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YOUNG MEN CONVULSED WITH LAUGHTER AT THE COMMAND OF THE HYPNOTI8T 
















R K[' #»>«■ 

HYPNOTISM 
AS IT IS 


A BOOK FOR EVERYBODY 


BY 

X. LaMOTTE SAGE, A. M., Ph. D., LL. I) 


Formerly Professor in Pierce College, Philadelphia, Pa., 
and Professor in Central College, Sedalia, Mo. 


SIXTH EDITION—HUNDREDTH THOUSAND. 


Rochester, N. Y. 

Ellwanger & Barry Building. 

New York State Publishing Company. 









4-3 F 

/004 


Copyrighted, 1897. 
X. LaMOTTE SAGE. 




***oaais i. 

Collect] 

®#t—Oct, 1 


v * youifQ 





New York State Publishing Co., 
Publishers and Printers, 
Rochester, N. Y. 




Important Explanation. 

Jt £ 

The word u Hypnotism ” as used in this book, re¬ 
fers to the induction of the hypnotic sleep. This 
sleep cannot be induced without the co-operation of 
the subject (see page 62 ), but this does not mean that 
one person can not influence another and cause him to 
do something that he would not do if it were not for 
this influence. 

All personal influence must be exerted by secret and 
adroit means, and the person influenced does not 
dream that his thoughts are being directed or con¬ 
trolled, hence he does not try to resist you. 

















. 



PREFACE. 


“ It is better to know a little well than to know 
so much that ain’t so. ”—Josh Billings . 

This work has been prepared in the crucible of 
experience. 

It is designed to give the public a general knowl¬ 
edge of hypnotism. 

The author claims no originality ; he has con¬ 
tented himself to be the humble compiler of facts, 
clearly established by practical demonstrations. 

X. L. S. 


New York, Sept, i, iSgy. 









NATURE OF HYPNOTISM, 


Eleven Fundamental Propositions. 

1. Hypnotism within itself is absolutely harm¬ 
less. 

2. No one can be hypnotized against his will. 

3. No one can be hypnotized without he com¬ 
plies with certain conditions and does his part to 
bring about the state. 

4. Any one who is hypnotized has done more 
himself to induce the condition than the operator 
has done. 

5. The hypnotist possesses no special power, 
nor can he gain permanent control over any one, or 
absolute control even temporarily. 

6. To be hypnotized in no respect shows a weak¬ 
ness. 

7. Weak minded people (contrary to the opin¬ 
ions of some) do not make good sensitives. 

8. The most susceptible subjects are intelligent 
people having strong minds and will power, with 
the ability to maintain a certain passivity as to 
results. 





9. All persons canno* be hypnotized upon first 
or second trial. 

10. Hypnotism is not a conflict of will powers in 
which the stronger overcomes the weaker. The 
person hypnotized may have a very much stronger 
will than the operator. 

11. The effects of hypnotism will in every case 
wear off in time, and a spontaneous awakening 
occur, with no bad results whatever to the subject. 

Delusion in Regard to Hypnotism. 

There seems to be a wide-spread delusion that 
hypnotism is some special and august power, 
through the medium of which its possessor domi¬ 
nates the minds and will powers of those whom he 
places under its influence, rendering them mere 
automatons. 

We have been taught to look upon the hypnotist 
as a man peculiar in appearance,possessed of weird, 
strange, piercing eyes—a Svengali if you please. 

We could hardly have conjured up anything 
farther from the real nature of hypnotism, or the 
real character of the operator. 

What Hypnotism Is. 

Hypnotism is the induction of a state which has 
no physiological differences from that produced by 



ADA ST. CLAIR SINGING BEN BOLT” WHILE HYPNOTIZED BY DR. FLINT. 













































* 














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natural sleep. There are no particular sensations, 
exc pt whr/t may result from the imagination of the 
hypnotee or the suggestion of the hypnotist. The 
state seems to be an entirely subjective one, that is, 
exists solely in the mind of the hypnotee. 

The supposition of a subtle fluid passing from the 
operator need not be resorted to for explanation of 
the phenomena. 

As a matter of convenience, we might divide that 
part of hypnotism which is ordinarily witnessed in 
a physician’s office, n a public platform, or in pri¬ 
vate demonstrations into three stages. 

Different Stages. 

The first stage, or the state of being physically 
affected only may be produced in the waking condi¬ 
tion, the hypnotee at n time losing consciousness. 
The hands may be fastened together so that the 
hypnotee is unable to take them apart, or the arm 
may be rigid so that he is unable to bend it. This 
effect would ordinarily wear off of its own accord in 
a few seconds, or in a few minutes, at the most. 

The next stage is a condition of light sleep—the 
dream-like state. In this condition illusions and 
hallucinations may be made to appear in the hyp- 
notee’s mind, especially the former. When he is 


awakened he can recall everything, though it seems 
to him like a dream. 

The next stage might be called the condition of 
deep sleep. We can now create illusions and hallu¬ 
cinations at will; can produce catalepsy—a rigid 
-condition of’the muscles—at command; and anaes¬ 
thesia by a mere suggestion. Catalepsy and anaes¬ 
thesia may also be produced in the second stage, but 
not so well. 

Sentinels. 

Hypnotism seems to depend upon the peculiar 
duality of the mind. It seems to be the duty of 
certain faculties to act as the sentinels of the mind. 
These faculties inquire into the nature of every¬ 
thing which enters; if believed to be false, they 
reject; if true, they accept it. These sentinels have 
been called the objective faculties of the mind. 
They are the faculties upon which inductive reason¬ 
ing depends. 

The other faculties of the mind, which have been 
called the subjective faculties, seem to be incapa¬ 
ble of inductive reasoning. They have no power of 
inquiring into the premises of things, though after 
the premises have once been established they are in 
many respects the most valuable faculties of the 
entire mind. It is probable that with them mem- 


—TO— 


ory rests. And it now seems likely that everything 
we do, that everything we hear, that everything 
that passes before us, indelibly inscribes its im¬ 
pression on these faculties, never to be erased 
through lapse of time, through all ages. 

It is true many things are forgotten, yet, under 
hypnosis people remember hundreds and hundreds 
of things they cannot recall in their natural state. 
They have been known to speak languages learned 
in early childhood, which have been forgotten with 
age; so might not all things be there impressed, 
some day to be recalled. 

The subjective faculties will not accept sugges¬ 
tions contrary to anything they have been taught as 
right from a moral standpoint. 


THE EVIL EFFECTS OF HYPNOTISM. 


Harmless. 

Notwithstanding all the wild and vague talk 
about the harmful effect of this dreadful (?) and 
mighty (?) power, it is one of the most innocent 
agents known to modern science. 

In all my experience, and I have hypnotized 
thousands of people, I have never had an instance 
in which it produced the slightest evil results. Dr. 
Bernheim, of the University of France, and Dr. 
Moll, of Berlin, both able physicians and men or 
years of experience with hypnotism, make precisely 
similar assertions. In fact, I know of no man at 
the present day with wide experience with the sub¬ 
ject who claims that hypnotism is a harmful agent, 
though we frequently read of cases in which peo¬ 
ple have been hypnotized and remain in the trance 
condition. It is only justice to state that none of 
these has the least semblance of truth. I have in¬ 
vestigated a large number of them, and found them 
to be purely fictitious. In fact, even if the hypno¬ 
tist were mean enough to desire to place a spell 


—12— 



THI8 PIC 1 unc htrrttoti^ I o lMt AW^KtMMi OF A HYPNOTIZED YOUNG MAN WHO HA8 BEEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE A NUMBER OF DAY8 
WITHOUT FOOD OR DRINK, HAVING ALL THE FUNCTIONS OF THE BODY, EXCEPT THE VITAL, ENTIRELY SUSPENDED. 



















% 








over any one, which should continue for a length or 
time, it would be totally beyond his power to do so; 
a spontaneous awakening will occur in all cases in 
time. 

Nervous Diseases. 

I have heard of cases in which certain nervous 
diseases have resulted from being hypnotized, and 
at the cost of considerable trouble I have taken the 
pains to look most of these up personally, while the 
few I could not investigate myself were investi¬ 
gated by local physicians who made a report to me. 
In no instance have I found any one who has ever 
been permanently injured in the slightest degree 
even from being practiced upon by raw amateurs, 
which we do not ordinarily consider advisable, not 
that hypnotism will in itself hurt any one, but it 
can be more intelligently applied by persons skilled 
in its application. On the other hand, I have found 
many cases in which persons had been cured of 
chronic diseases by these same raw amateurs, when 
such diseases had been treated with medicine for 
several years unsuccessfully. 

Upon the mind and nervous system it has an 
effect similar to natural sleep. It is a quiet, rest¬ 
ful condition, which in most cases is very beneficial 
and hurtful to none. 


—13— 


Temporary Evils. 


Should the ignorance of some operator cause hyp¬ 
notism to produce even temporary evil effects, 
which is all that it could ever be made to produce, 
these effects could be immediately banished by an 
intelligent application of hypnotism. It stands as 
a remedy for every evil effect that even a careless 
operator might cause it to produce. 

If I were selfish, as many are, I would say that 
no one, physician or anybody else, should practice 
hypnotism without passing an examination therein, 
but I can find no facts upon which to support such 
argument. When it comes to treating diseases with 
hypnotism, I think there is no question but that a 
man skilled in its application will cure where others 
will fail, but that any real harm would result from 
being operated upon by an incompetent person 
cannot be shown, as nothing of the kind has ever 
happened so far and hypnotism has certainly been 
practiced by enough ignorant operators to give this 
phase of the subject a fair trial. If a technical ex¬ 
amination were required how many physicians even 
would be allowed to practice it ?—very few at present. 

Ignorance. 

When a man is hypnotized, and anything of any 

—14— 


nature happens to him thereafter, it is the practice 
of people who are totally unacquainted with the 
subject to ascribe it immediately to hypnotism. 
This accounts for much of the sensational stuff 
which has appeared. In these cases a little investi¬ 
gation by a party who knows anything at all of the 
nature of hypnotism and medicine will reveal 
other causes and show conclusively that hypnotism 
had nothing whatever to do with the matter. 

Sometimes hysterical people have slight attacks 
of hysteria upon being hypnotized the first time or 
two, but it would be extreme folly to suppose that 
such were due to hypnotism. The nervous excite¬ 
ment connected with trying a thing they do not un¬ 
derstand brings on the attacks, which, however, im¬ 
mediately disappear if you get the party under the 
influence; and repeated hypnosis will usually break 
up the attacks entirely; so, instead of its being harm¬ 
ful, it is very beneficial in all these cases. We need 
not feel at all alarmed about its developing latent 
hysteria. On the contrary, it will check all tenden¬ 
cies in this direction if proper suggestions are given. 

Neurotics. 

The statement sometimes made that people of a 
neurotic temperament make the best hypnotic sub- 


—iS— 


jects is totally unsupported by experience. I have 
never found them any more susceptible than others, 
if, indeed, as susceptible. If any man well versed 
in hypnotism will select a large number of people 
promiscuously and give each a fair trial, he will 
readily see the folly of all such argument. Of 
course, if you firmly believe that neurotics are the 
only people who are good subjects, it is likely they 
will be about the only ones you can hypnotize, as 
a man never yet accomplished anything without 
confidence. Neither are people with light hair and 
blue eyes any more susceptible than any one else, 
unless the operator firmly believes they are, then 
he of course, can hypnotize more people from a class 
that he believes he can affect than he can from a 
class that he feels his inability to cope with. 

Hypnotism is not a pathological condition, and the 
moment an operator will dispel the illusion that 
some particular temperaments are more susceptible 
than others, he will hypnotize just as many from 
one class as another, if he understands his business. 

Improper Suggestions. 

It is possible to give suggestions to a hypnotic 
subject not conducive to his welfare. For example 
to hypnotize a man every day for several weeks and 


—16— 


PEOPLE FALL INTO A HYPNOTIC STATE FROM LOOKING AT LUV»S REVOLVING MIRROR. 
















tell him while under the influence that his health 
was very bad, he was going to die, etc., might be 
productive of undesirable consequences, but dan¬ 
gers of this kind are too remote to waste time in 
discussing. Have a third party present to hear the 
suggestions and you never need be troubled. 

Frequent Hypnotization. 

The evils of frequent hypnotization are more 
imaginative than real. Here, as in nearly every 
other phase of hypnotism, experience is the best 
guide. I suppose one could be hypnotized so often 
that such would be detrimental, as nearly anything 
can be overdone; but I have hypnotized the same 
people several times daily for more than two years 
in succession in different instances, and they were 
not injured physically, mentally or in any other 
way. I am acquainted with persons who have been 
hypnotized almost every day for ten years without 
any deleterious effects. There are no grounds for 
any uneasiness in this direction, at least so long as 
we keep anywhere near the bounds of reason. 

Professional Subjects. 

Public performers usually have one or two sub¬ 
jects that are called professionals, as they travel with 
the performers and are used for various tests. Such 


“i 7— 


subjects are also sometimes employed in hospitals 
for experiments. The statement is often made that 
after a time they become mental and physical wrecks, 
which is untrue. I have taken pains to see many 
of these and have never yet seen one who had in 
any way been injured, and it is difficult for me to 
understand how any man who presumes to write on 
hypnotism could be led into making such an utterly 
groundless assertion. I have seen some of these 
who did not seem to be blessed with a superabund¬ 
ance of sense,but I found by investigation they were 
in their normal condition—the same state they were 
in before they ever heard of hypnotism. I wish to 
say, however, that their mental deficiencies did not 
make them any more susceptible to hypnotism, but 
on the contrary such people are ordinarily more diffi¬ 
cult to hypnotize than persons of greater intelli¬ 
gence, as the latter grasp explanations much more 
readily. It is possible one’s duties might be so ar¬ 
duous as to impair his health, but this is a different 
thing from being injured by hypnotism, and I am 
slow to believe that any professional subject has 
had arduous duties to perform, unless perchance he 
was employed in some cheap museum. 

Imagination. 

I have seen perfectly healthy people hypnotized, 


—18— 


and immediately after some one would firmly be¬ 
lieve a great change had come over the party opera¬ 
ted upon—his eyes looked differently, etc. Of 
course it is needless for me to say this was due to 
the onlooker’s imagination. He expected to see a 
change from having listened to sensational stories, 
and he imagined he saw what he expected. 

I could write chapters on the errors of the imagi¬ 
nation in this connection and fill each one full of 
actual incidents. It is miraculous how little judg¬ 
ment even scientific men often use when investigat¬ 
ing a thing about which they have preconceived 
notions. 

Prejudice. 

Any one with a fairly good understanding of hyp¬ 
notism, who will lay aside all prejudice and precon¬ 
ceived opinions and go into an investigation for the 
truth, and truth alone, will arrive at the inevitable 
conclusion that if hypnotism has any evil conse¬ 
quences they are so slight as scarcely to be worthy 
of notice. There can be but two excuses for the au¬ 
thorship of the sensational articles that have ap¬ 
peared along this line; one is ignorance, and the 
other, a desire to deceive. 


—19— 


WHO MAY BE HYPNOTIZED. 


Susceptibility. 

Experience seems to show that all, or nearly all, 
people of good sound mind may be hypnotized after 
one or more trials, provided they do not resist the 
influence. 

It is true that only a certain percentage may be 
hypnotized upon first or second trial, but this indi¬ 
cates nothing except that they are difficult. I have 
placed many people under the influence that I had 
tried more than twenty times without success. So 
far, I have never failed in a case which I gave daily 
trials with my mind thoroughly made up to bring 
about the condition, if possible. 

Some I have tried several times with but little 
success, but in most cases they were people that I 
had no particular reason to hypnotize, beyond satis¬ 
fying their curiosity; I did not give them the atten¬ 
tion that should have been given. 

There seems to be two principal things upon 
which susceptibility depends. One is, for the subject 
to concentrate his attention upon the suggestions 


—20— 



of the hypnotist to the exclusion of other things; 
and the other, is to give himself up fully, maintain¬ 
ing a state of complete passivity. 

It seems this latter condition is by far the harder 
one for intelligent people to comply with. Many 
have a desire to be hypnotized, but they offer an 
unconscious resistance, or in some cases an undue 
anxiety is present. Ladies are no more susceptible 
than gentlemen, though they seem to be equally 
susceptible. 

Against Will of Hypnotee. 

The condition cannot be induced against the will 
of the hypnotee. It is like everything else, it is 
here given to us for our benefit; if we are disposed 
iO avail ourselves of its advantages, all right; if 
not, it is within our power to refuse. 

Experience and knowledge make the skillful 
operator. We may concede a certain adaptability, 
but no special power. 

Intelligence. 

It is hard to hypnotize people of a low order of 
intelligence, for several reasons. In the first place, 
it is difficult for them to understand what you ex¬ 
pect them to do, and often they have not the men¬ 
tal training sufficient to produce a ready concentra- 


—21 — 


tion of the mind. Idiots are usually considered un- 
hypnotizable, and so are insane persons. It is very 
doubtful whether hypnosis has ever been produced 
in children under three years of age. 

Key to Hypnotism. 

I am inclined to think that the key to the whole 
matter is suggestion with expectant attention on the 
part of the hypnotee. 

People have been hypnotized by the use of re¬ 
volving mirrors, and such devices, but we doubt 
whether such would have ever produced genuine 
hypnosis had the party not looked for such. 

To say the least, when a man who knows nothing 
about hypnotism at all, who has never heard of it, 
looks at a revolving mirror, without being told why 
to do so, a drowsy condition which verges into nat¬ 
ural sleep usually ensues; in fact, such has always 
ensued in every case that I have ever tried, and I 
have tried quite a large number. Explain to him 
the nature of the mirror, however, that is, arouse 
expectant attention, and we get the hypnotic state. 

Strong Will. 

People sometimes imagine that because they have 
strong will power they will be very difficult to 


—22 - 


hypnotize. Such is ridiculous, as the strength or 
weakness of the will power has absolutely nothing 
to do with the matter; other things being equal, 
the man with the strong will power ought to be 
the more susceptible. 


—23— 


WHO SHOULD HYPNOTIZE* 


Hypnosis is best produced by people who are 
skilled in this particular line; who have a thorough 
knowledge of the theory and practice of hypnotism, 
though it hardly seems necessary that we should 
designate by law certain persons who should be al¬ 
lowed to perform this work. Let every one who 
wishes to.be hypnotized judge for himself who the 
operator will be. Of course, in many cases a poor 
operator will be selected, and the results may not 
prove satisfactory, but I do not see that any particu¬ 
lar harm can be done. 

Artificial Awakenings. 

The only thing that I have ever seen in any way 
undesirable is three cases in which people were 
hypnotized by amateurs who were afterward unable 
to produce an artificial awakening. In two of these 
hypnosis was produced by physicians who were ex¬ 
perimenting for purposes of scientific investigation, 
and the third case happened at Hazleton, Pa. A 
gentleman who did not understand the subject very 
well hypnotized a lady, and when he went to arouse 


—24— 






BEING TREATED FOR STAMMERING. 

HYPNOTISM 18 THE BEST OF AGENTS FOR THE SPEEDY RELIEF OF THI8 UNFORTUNATE MALADY 






































































































































. 
















her, he was totally unable to do so. The lady’s 
friends became very much excited and special 
despatches were sent broadcast to newspapers, and 
some were made to read that a lady died under the 
influence of hypnotism. She awakened, however, 
of her own accord in three hours, feeling well and 
very much refreshed from her sleep. 

In one of the cases hypnotized by the doctors, the 
man resisted the efforts of the physicians to produce 
an artificial awakening for more than six hours, but 
this was no cause for alarm. When I awakened 
him he felt better for having taken the sleep, and I 
think it would have been still better to have al¬ 
lowed him to sleep until he awakened of his own ac¬ 
cord. No harm can possibly result. 

In the other case the subject was awakened by a 
physician who was called in for the purpose, one to 
whom I had only a few days previously given a 
course of instruction in hypnotism. 

I have been told by reliable persons of several 
other cases in which amateurs were unable to 
awaken their subjects, but no evil effects resulted 
therefrom. I think it would be well, however, for 
people to get some experienced operator to show 
them how to produce an artificial awakening before 
attempting to hypnotize, as this would prevent any 


—25— 


trouble in the matter and save people who are not 
acquainted with hypnotism the possibility of an 
unnecessary scare, as nearly every one becomes 
very much excited the moment an operator fails to 
produce an awakening; although, in reality, there 
is no reason for the least uneasiness. 

When subjects are hypnotized by suggestion 
purely, I never knew one to be hard to awaken. 
When bright objects or sense stimuli (passes) are 
used they are more apt to be difficult. 

Use of Hypnotism Medicinally. 

Persons who know something of medicine are un¬ 
doubtedly the best class of people to use hypnotism 
medicinally, but a knowledge of medicine as 
taught to-day does not imply a knowledge of hypno¬ 
tism. 

To be a good hypnotist requires long experience 
and careful attention to details. While a hypnotist 
possesses no special power, and hypnotism is some¬ 
thing any one can learn, still he who presumes to 
hypnotize without some special training will likely 
find very few people susceptible. While the sub¬ 
ject does very much more to induce the state than 
the hypnotist does, the little that the hypnotist 
does do is not acquired in a day. 


—26— 


Any one who states that there is nothing to 
learn about hypnotism, etc., shows plainly his total 
ignorance of the practical application of the science, 
to say the least. Owing to the training required to 
make skilled operators, I doubt if physicians gener¬ 
ally will ever become such; the practice will proba¬ 
bly be reserved for the few who decide to adopt it 
as a specialty. At the present time there is a sad 
lack of competent people in the profession, while 
the remuneration is considerably greater than that 
offered to the general practitioner of medicine. 


—27— 


HOW TO BECOME A HYPNOTIST. 


Personal Instruction. 

The best way to obtain a practical knowledge of 
Hypnotism is to take instruction from a skillful ope¬ 
rator. Such a person can teach you in a short time 
what you would be years in learning unaided; besides, 
a good course of instruction will enable you to avoid 
many humiliating errors which you would otherwise 
commit 

We constantly hear that only a small percentage 
of people can be hypnotized. This idea grows out 
of our ignorance of the proper application of 
methods. The trouble is not in the unsusceptibility 
of the people, but in the knowledge possessed by 
the operator. 

It frequently happens that it is very much hard¬ 
er to awaken a subject than it is to hypnotize him. 
You should get your instructor to give you clear and 
full explanations on this important point. Also ex¬ 
plain to you the method of handling hysterical 
people. 


—2&— 



Induction of Hypnosis. 

Hypnotism is induced ordinarily by one of three 
processes or a combination of these, the combina¬ 
tion preferred. First, by suggestion; certain com¬ 
mands given the subject. Second, by sense stimuli; 
downward passes made in contact with the subject 
or near him. Third, by the mse of bright objects, 
revolving mirrors, etc. A clear explanation to the 
subject, setting forth the true nature of hypnotism, 
and asking him to concentrate his mind upon the 
suggestions, is a most desirable prelude to an at¬ 
tempt to induce the state. 

No one method can be advocated to the exclusion 
of others, and there are probably special methods 
which are at times specially efficacious. 

As different systems are affected differently by 
the same drugs, so persons are variously affected by 
similar processes of hypnotism. 

Passes, suggestions and bright objects are all very 
beneficial. Passes have a soothing effect on account 
of the monotonous stimulation brought to bear upon 
the nerves of sensation, and will occasionally induce 
hypnosis when other processes fail, but the verbal 
suggestion method properly applied will hypnotize 
more people than any other single process. There 
is a knack in giving suggestions which rarely comes 


—2q— 


y 


except from long experience, and frequently not 
then. In the use of bright objects the Luys Mirror 
has some points in its favor, and the Hypnotic Ball 
invented by Mr. McIntyre, of Brooklyn, is an ingen¬ 
ious contrivance. When a bright object is used, it 
should be before other processes, and the moment 
the eyelids drop or any nervousness is noticed, the 
object should be removed and suggestions and 
passes substituted. 

Bright Object. 

He who depends upon the bright object entirely 
will find very few people susceptible to the deeper 
stages at least, and will probably have an incorrect 
idea of hypnotism. 

The bright object sometimes leaves trifling evil 
effects, while verbal suggestion is always productive 
of pleasant sensations, and when the patient is sus¬ 
ceptible to it suggestion should be resorted to in 
preference to all other methods, though passes are 
usually equally agreeable. The efficacy of a pass, 
however, seems due solely to its effect on the nerves 
of sensation and not to any subtle fluids, magnet¬ 
ism, etc. 

Record. 

In hynotizing, a record should be kept of each 


—30— 


patient; the method employed each day, its effect, 
etc. 

I proceed on the theory that every person is a 
somnambulist (though this may be contrary to au¬ 
thority), and if I fail to induce such a state I con¬ 
sider the failure owing to a lack of knowledge or 
perseverance on my part, unless I can discern some 
physical derangement which prevents the concen¬ 
tration of the patient’s mind. If a person is cured 
during light hypnosis, I, of course, proceed no 
further. Some will get tired of coming regularly 
for treatment after a week or so, and probably many 
of these might never enter the deep stage, though I 
believe the percentage of somnambulists is univer¬ 
sally put at too low an estimate. 

Somnambulistic State. 

I have never failed to induce the somnambulistic 
state when such was necessary and when I could 
get the patient to continue the treatment. The 
longest time it has ever taken me so far is three 
weeks, when I had a bad case of dipsomania in hand. 

Many of the cases of somnambulism that I have 
had, had been tried by others and pronounced un¬ 
susceptible either to hypnotism at all, or at least to 
the somnambulistic state; though this, of course, 


—31— 


amounts to little, as the subjects might not have 
given the other operators a fair opportunity. 

Surgical Operation. 

In Pittsburg, Pa., a surgeon had a patient on 
whom he wished to perform an operation, and did 
not think it wise to use the ordinary anaesthetics. 
He had tried to hypnotize her several times, and 
others had tried, but no success whatever had 
crowned their efforts. I was called in and made a 
thirty minutes' trial with practically no effect. I 
asked permission to try every day for two weeks and 
the lady consented reluctantly, believing it would 
be of no avail. The second trial I began to keep 
my record; I asked the lady after the trial what pass 
affected her most and what least. My favorite pass 
(which was ordinarily very effective) was a positive 
detriment, while one I rarely used was very effica¬ 
cious. I questioned her regarding the loudness of 
my voice (which was pitched at the same height 
which I had hitherto used with the best of results) 
and I found after several trials that it was too high 
for her. These and other things were noted. Next 
time I used what had affected her most deeply pre¬ 
viously, and some new details. She felt sleepy and 
could not open her eyes. After this trial, I asked 


—32— 



THE PATIENT CAN NO LONGER DRINK INTOXICATING BEVERAGES. HE IS JUST TRYING TO SWALLOW SOME, 
AFTER HAVING BEEN HYPNOTIZED, BUT THE VERY SIGHT OF LIQUOR MAKES HIM DEATHLY SICK. 





questions, as before, and made notations. I found 
she was more susceptible to some words and sleep 
formulas than to others. The words “fast asleep," 
though given with the half-Italian sound of “a," 
grated harshly upon her ears. 

This process was kept up for seven days, when 
she entered the deepest stage of hypnotism. A 
needle was passed through her arm without pain, 
and there was a perfect state of amnesia upon awak¬ 
ening. I turned her over to the surgeon for the 
operation, which was successfully performed the 
next day. The results I have produced were b> 
persistent application. The operator who uses the 
same methods, day after day, when he is producing 
comparatively no effect, had better follow the plow. 
The man who thinks that the whole method of in¬ 
ducing hypnosis is contained in the monotonous re¬ 
petition of a few sleep foripulas, or a few passes, 
perfunctorily made, has much yet to learn. 

To attribute success as an operator to superior 
will-power, magnetism, etc., is the conceit of 
ignorance. 


—33- 


BENEFITS OF HYPNOTISM. 


In discussing the benefits of hypnotism, it is our 
intention to give, simply, a general idea of its use. 

It is not our purpose to attempt an explanation of 
its medicinal virtues, as that properly belongs to a 
work on suggestive therapeutics. 

A volume, and, in fact, several volumes might be 
written on this subject, and still it would be left 
totally unexhausted. 

A large book might properly be written on “Hyp¬ 
notism as a Therapeutic Agent.” A book of con¬ 
siderable size might be written on “Hypnotism 
in Surgery;” and, last but not least, much space 
would be required to give anything like an adequate 
idea of its manifold tflses in developing mental 
faculties. 

Functional and Nervous Disorders. 

In general, we might say hypnotism is a remedy 
for functional and nervous disorders. 

It has never been claimed that it would cause 
destroyed structure to regenerate itself. While 
it does not seem reasonable to the unitiated that 


— 34 — 



hypnotism would make a cure, still the fact that it 
does cure, and in many cases where nothing else will, 
is incontestable. 

We may attribute the cure to the imagination, to 
the power of the mind to equalize the nervous forces 
of the system, and throw off the disease, or to any¬ 
thing you please. It matters little to the sick man 
by what or how he is cured, so long as he gets well. 

Cures in Hospitals. 

If one would take the trouble to investigate some 
of the marvelous cures that have been made in the 
European hospitals with this agent, also some cures 
that have been made in this country, he would never 
thereafter descry the use of the most subtle of thera¬ 
peutic agents—Hypnotism. 

Blindness. 

We have ourselves relieved a large number of 
people from blindness caused by functional paralysis 
of the optic nerve—cases very difficult to cure by 
medicine. Not long ago a gentleman came to us— 
a physician, by the way—who had suffered from 
neuralgia over three months, being unable to cure 
himself, or even to obtain relief, except by taking 
powerful doses of morphine. In twenty minutes he 


— 35 — 


was entirely relieved, and three months afterward 
the disease had not returned. 

Stammering. 

A young man of Reading, Pa., came to us in the 
month of May, 1896, a victim of stammering. He 
had tried to pass examinations for the school-ship 
on several occasions, but every time had failed on 
account of. this deformity. His scholarship was 
adequate to the demands, but he was refused on ac¬ 
count of his speech. 

The young gentleman was a little difficult to hyp¬ 
notize, but at the end of one week we had him under 
the influence in the third stage, and at the end of 
twelve days he was entirely relieved, so much so 
that he immediately passed his examination and 
went on the school-ship, thereby accomplishing what 
he had so long craved. 

Habits Cured. 

We might write volumes of descriptions of cases 
of cigarette and morphine habits that we have 
broken up. 

Hypnotism is undoubtedly the best of agents for 
the cure of habits; it not only puts a man in the 
condition in which he was before he contracted the 
habit, but it prejudices him against the thing he 

-36- 


formerly liked to such an extent that he abhors it; 
he loathes it. 

Good Done to the Public. 

Parties giving public exhibitions throughout the 
country, annually cure hundreds of people of smoking 
cigarettes, and many are the families that they have 
made happy by curing some drunken father; and 
many are the mothers into whose homeSv they have 
poured sunshine, by breaking up the habits of some 
Teckless child. 

Memory Trained. 

We have used hypnotism in a large number of 
cases very successfully for training the memory. 
A little boy was brought to us in Philadelphia, about 
twelve years old, who was very much averse to 
study. He had a bright mind, but he preferred to 
idle his time away on the street. His mother was 
very sad, and asked us if we would help her. 

In a short time we had the boy in the third stage 
of hypnotism, and in a few days he seemed to care 
little for his street-playmates, but spent more time 
over his books. 

At the end of one week he entirely renounced his 
former playmates and was a changed boy, and has 
remained so ever since. This was all accomplished 


— 37 — 


through this evil (?) agent—Hypnotism, which the 
ignorant would stop if they could. 

Pain Controlled. 

Pain can usually be controlled through the 
agency of hypnotic suggestion. 

When we touch our finger to a red-hot stove, pain 
warns us that we are in contact with a harmful 
agent, and, were it not for pain, we might cut our¬ 
selves in pieces, or burn our limbs off before we 
were aware of it. 

But pain was only designed to act as a sentinel. It 
is only meant to cry out “Danger!” and then its 
mission is ended. 

When pain has sounded his warning, hypnotism 
steps in and controls the pain, so that the wound 
will heal without our suffering. How great is the 
wisdom of Nature if we were only wise enough t© 
avail ourselves of what she has provided for usd 


-38- 


PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS. 


Evil Effects. 

For full discussion of the so-called evil effects 
of hypnotism the reader is referred to our special 
chapter on this subject, as anything we might here 
say would only be a repetition of what is more fully 
presented elsewhere. 

In the chapter referred to we have patiently 
pointed out the follies of that class of individuals 
whose unacquaintance with hypnotism has prompted 
such vague and illogical conclusions regarding the 
evil effects of a practically innocent agent. 

We will now consider the objections urged other 
than this against the public performance. 

Not Degrading. 

First, it has been said by some that public enter¬ 
tainments are degrading, and that no person of 
proper morals can witness same without being dis¬ 
gusted. The truth is that a public entertainment 
in the hands of a properly qualified person is one 
of the most refined and instructive performances 
any one could wish to see. Certainly nothing is 


—39— 



said, nor done, that could in any way mar the pleas¬ 
ure of the most fastidious. The acting is all of a 
refined nature and the student of science can find 
much food for reflection. I defy any one to point 
out anything improper in dress, speech or manner 
in a high class hypnotic entertainment; so just where 
the disgusting part comes in is hard to see. Un¬ 
questionably there is a class of pessimistic minds 
who fail to find enjoyment in anything that does not 
exactly coincide with their peculiar and fanatical 
views; or it may be that those who “have been dis¬ 
gusted” have seen hypnotism when attending some 
questionable variety resort, where it would likely 
be adapted to the audience. 

Remove Prejudice. 

Second, some physicians have claimed that public 
performances prejudice people against the use of 
hypnotism medicinally. This is exactly the reverse 
of the & ith. The prejudice exists before the per¬ 
formance, and instead of increasing the prejudice, 
I know from actual experience that it is very much 
lessened after even a single good entertainment has 
been given. This is also in accord with reason. 

There is usually more or less prejudice against 
that which is new to us or that which we do not un- 


—40— 


derstand. This prejudice diminishes with knowl¬ 
edge. Let some intelligent person give a proper ex¬ 
planation of hypnotism, actually demonstrating that 
it is not harmful, but a science which all can under¬ 
stand, something entirely devoid of any power or 
influence to be dreaded, it is obvious to any thinking 
person that this must be beneficial to both public 
and physician alike, and we believe all broad¬ 
minded physicians so regard it. 

There are some doctors, however, who are consti¬ 
tutionally opposed to the public’s havihg the slight¬ 
est knowledge of anything medicinal for fear some 
poor mortal might treat himself and thus deprive 
the doctor of his eagerly sought fee. This is some¬ 
thing, however, not indigenous to the medical pro¬ 
fession, but to all professions and trades. Narrow, 
avaricious men are found everywhere. 

Ignorance. 

Third, one of the “pet objections” offered by 
those who want the public performance suppressed 
is that in view of the general ignorance of the peo¬ 
ple on the subject it is well to regulate the practice 
of hypnotism by law. The American public may 
not be versed in the science of hypnotism, but we 
deny that we have a people too ignorant to learn it 


—41— 


or too stupid to profit by seeing a public demonstra¬ 
tion of it. And again, if the people are ignorant of 
it, by what process of reasoning have we reached the 
stupendous conclusion that the proper way to teach 
a person a science is to pass a law keeping him in 
ignorance? The inconsistent incongruities of such 
sophistical argument are too plain to require refu¬ 
tation. 

Amateurs. 

Fourth, it is held that after a public entertainment 
has been given a large number go to practicing hyp¬ 
notism who are incompetent to do so and thereby 
much harm results. This is really the only objec¬ 
tion worthy of any notice whatever, the others being 
inconsistent upon their faces. It very rarely hap¬ 
pens that a crop of amateurs spring up, but even 
when they do, no real harm results.* In most cases, 
no one is hypnotized, the boys simply play “hypno¬ 
tist” the same as they play “circus” after witnessing 
a show, but the onlookers many times being igno¬ 
rant of hypnotism and ready to imagine all sorts of 
things, really think the boys are plying the “mystic 
art,” and dream of serious consequences so remote 
that to the educated mind they are in many cases 
positively ridiculous, and often carry us back to the 
superstitions of mediaeval times. 


—42— 


Every year the bicycle records its number of 
deaths and injuries; pleasure riding and driving do 
the same; base-ball rolls up a startling list and foot¬ 
ball has caused more than one to “rest his head upon 
a lap of earth.” Yet these are taken as natural con¬ 
sequences, while the simple insinuation that hypno¬ 
tism has probably produced the slightest harm 
through the carelessness of some ignorant operator 
creates a whirlwind of excitement, and we talk 
about controlling the mighty power by law with as 
much erudition and wisdom as characterized the 
decisions of the learned judges in the days of Salem 
witchcraft. 

Serious Injury. 

I have searched diligently for a long time to find 
a case in which an amateur ever seriously injured 
any one with hypnotism, and have yet to find a sin¬ 
gle one. I have heard of several whose health and 
minds had been destroyed—tales that would fill the 
soul with horror, and at considerable expense of 
both time and money I have gone to see these per¬ 
sons myself to ascertain the exact truth, only to find 
no foundation whatever for the reports. And if 
people generally had only run down half as many of 
these wild tales as I have, little credence would be 


-43— 


given to such, and the writing of this chapter would 
be practically unnecessary. 

Superstitious Minds. 

It is easy to convince superstitious minds that 
public entertainments do great harm in hundreds of 
ways, notably in spreading a knowledge of a science, 
which they firmly believe emanates from the devil, 
or if not that, they are opposed to letting a dread¬ 
ful (?) and mighty (?) power loose in the land. The 
very thought that hypnotism is something by which 
one person acquires a certain control over another 
fill? them with awe, and they look upon a hypnotist 
as people formerly eyed a witch. They believe you 
can hypnotize a man whether he wishes it or not, 
the same as witches were supposed to bewitch their 
unfortunate victims, and with much display of pomp 
and bigotry hypnotism is summarily pronounced an 
abnormal condition, very deleterious to the nervous 
system, which if persisted in makes a man inevita¬ 
bly a “nervous wreck. ” 

It seems here that truly, 

“A little learning is a dangerous thing; 

Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring. 

There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain; 
But drinking largely sobers us again. * ’ 


-44- 


HYPNOTIZING A LARGE NUMBER AT ONCE. 


























































































Cultured People. 

The best evidence of the refined and instructive 
nature of a hypnotic entertainment, as well as the 
greatest reason for its existence, lies in the fact that 
such are attended by the best educated and most cul¬ 
tured people of our country. Few entertainments 
or lectures attract such intelligent audiences. 
There undoubtedly exists a demand for these per¬ 
formances or such would not be so liberally patron¬ 
ized, and considering the character of the patrons, 
it seems an unwarranted presumptioh on the part of 
any one to allow his antagonism to run so wild as to 
advocate their suppression by law. If they were at¬ 
tended by the riffraff of the community and were of 
an immoral nature we might appropriately express 
ourselves in favor of their discontinuance, but un 
der the circumstances such acts seem to be a re¬ 
siduum of the dark ages when our ancestors issued 
edicts against everything not strictly in accordance 
with their own peculiar notions. 

General Use. 

Without the public exhibition, hypnotism would 
have been comparatively unknown to-day. The 
only way that it will ever come into general use is 
through the medium of a healthful public sentiment. 


—45 - 


The people must be familiarized with it, they need 
to see it. 

Ignorance and superstition cry out against it, the 
same as they have always cried out against the ad¬ 
vancement of science. 

The public might gain more information from 
scientific lectures, accompanied by a limited number 
of demonstrations, than it gains from the perform¬ 
ance which is ordinarily presented. But again we 
are confronted with the fact that the people will not 
go, as a rule, to hear the scientific lectures—they 
must be entertained as well as instructed. We must 
present some of the simpler phases of hypnotism; 
we cannot start a man in logarithms when he be¬ 
gins the study of mathematics. 

Laws Against Hypnotism. 

The result of the passage of a law allowing only 
some special class of people to use hypnotism 
would at the present time virtually amount to pro¬ 
hibiting its use. The passing of laws against pub¬ 
lic exhibitions means to deprive the masses of the 
people from an opportunity to learn something of a 
valuable science, which we really have just com¬ 
menced to investigate. Some will argue the less the 
world knows of hypnotism the better. Our only 


—46— 


reply to such persons is, that they have been born 
out of date. They should have existed a thousand 
years ago when their ideas might have been more 
in keeping with the times. To-day the world cries 
out for knowledge, upon which rests the safety of 
out nation and republican institutions. A thor¬ 
ough understanding of nature’s laws has always en¬ 
ured to the benefit of humanity, while ignorance has 
ever been a curse, an incubus on a country’s welfare, 
a hotbed of superstition, bigotry, and idolatry. 


- 47 


HYPNOTISM AND FRAUD. 


I do not pretend to say that every man is a hyp¬ 
notist who says he is, nor will I say that a man is al¬ 
ways hypnotized simply because such is represented 
to be the case. 

Ignorant Performers. 

There are a class of people who go about giving 
demonstrations in hypnotism whose principal qual¬ 
ifications seem to be ignorance and deception. 
Sometimes they undoubtedly hypnotize their sub¬ 
jects and other times they do not. The harm they 
do this way, however, is less than that which results 
from their deceptive statements. They continually 
endeavor to lead others to think they possess some 
strange and God-given power, and are ever ready 
with some weird story to amaze and mystify their 
listeners with the wonderful things they have done 
with this mighty unseen force. 

Genuine and Fraudulent. 

It is not hard for any one of average intelligence 
to distinguish the genuine from the fraudulent; the 
careful investigator from the charlatan. It is unfor- 


-48- 




SUBJECT IN A COMPLETE STATE OF ANESTHESIA, HAVING ORDINARY STEEL 
ARM AND FACE. IN THIS CONDITION A SURGICAL OPERATION CAN BE 


HAT PINS PUSHED THROUGH THE 
PERFORMED WITHOUT PAIN. 













tunate that we have these pretenders with us, but 
the fact that they are able to subsist shows that they 
are not entirely without patronage, and indicates a 
hunger and thirst on the part of the public for knowl¬ 
edge. If we fail to supply the people with a suffi¬ 
cient number of proper persons to give public dem¬ 
onstrations and they are thereby forced to patron¬ 
ize these charlatans that is largely our fault, and the 
best way to stop the impostors is to give the public 
an adequate number of public demonstrations pre¬ 
sented by intelligent and scholarly people. It is 
simply a question of the “survival of the fittest” and 
the improperly qualified will cease their rounds 
when there is no longer a demand for their services. 
There never was a spurious without a genuine, and 
it would be very unfair to say that hypnotism is a 
fraud because we have seen a fraudulent operator. 
The science commands the attention of many of our 
most intelligent and learned people and both it and 
its benefits are too well established as facts to be up¬ 
rooted by either the mountebank or so-called exposes. 

Hypnotic Subjects. 

It is characteristic of many of the best hypnotic 
subjects that when they get to studying over the 
matter afterward; that they will conclude they were 
not really hypnotized, that they could have resisted 


—49— 


had they wanted to do so. This is one of the best 
evidences of hypnosis—the fact that the subject did 
not want to resist—he had a desire to follow the 
•suggestions of the operator. 

What Makes Hypnotism. 

When an inhibition takes - place in certain brain 
centers of the subject’s mind, certain remaining 
centers which are active accept certain suggestions 
which the operator gives as true (carrying them out 
because they wish to do so), and this makes hypno¬ 
tism. 

If the subject had not wanted to carry out the sug¬ 
gestion he would not have done so, hence the im¬ 
possibility of causing the commission of crime with 
persons who are antagonistic to such. 

But you will say a person does things when hyp ¬ 
notized that he would not think of doing in his nat¬ 
ural state. True, but why ? The subject gives him 
self up to the operator to be put through such inno¬ 
cent tests as the operator may desire. There would 
be no point in going through these tests without be¬ 
ing hypnotized, hence the subject would refuse; if 
for no other reason to keep from being a party to a 
fraud. 

Most subjects think this way: “If I am hypno¬ 
tized the operator may do anything with me he wishes 


—50— 


to do” (barring criminal actions). They are anx¬ 
ious to convince themselves and their friends as to 
the reality of hypnotism, and realize that the more 
arduous the tests, the more convincing they will be. 
Thus the operator has the most favorable condition 
possible. The subject may not remember what he 
has done when he is awakened, but this renders my 
proposition none the less true. But you argue, when 
the subject comes from under the influence and re¬ 
alizes what he has done, frequently he will not go 
through the same again. Correct', but did you 
never do anything once wdllingly that you did not 
care to do again immediately afterward. For ex¬ 
ample, you sing a song, but after you are through the 
audience laughs at your singing; would you care to 
sing again at that particular time ? 

Therapeutic Suggestions. 

In medical treatment only therapeutic suggestions 
are given, and the subject is only too anxious to ac¬ 
cept them as true, as they relate directly to his wel¬ 
fare. In treating people there is no reason for giv¬ 
ing any suggestions except what are necessary for 
the cure of the disease. Experimental suggestions 
are not harmful, but people are sometimes afraid they 
will be used for the amusement of others. If a sub¬ 
ject made up his mind, however, that he would ac- 


—51 


cept. none but therapeutic suggestions, he would not 
carry the others out. 

Fraud. 

From long experience we are convinced that there 
is much less fraud practiced in hypnotism than the 
public ordinarily imagines. I have often heard it 
said by reputable people that a certain person’s hyp¬ 
notic demonstrations were purely fraudulent, that • 
the subjects themselves said they were not hypno¬ 
tized. Upon investigation I have been surprised in 
many of those cases to find the public entirely 
wrong. 

Public Sentiment. 

The subjects made statements in accordance 
with public sentiment, for the simple reason that to 
say anything else was to subject one’s self to ridi¬ 
cule and all sorts of incredulous questions, and the 
easiest way out of it was to say: “I was faking.” 

Many times people are so very skeptical that to 
maintain you were hypnotized means to be put 
down as a “liar” and of the two “the fake” seems 
less obnoxious. 

Confessions. 

You ask about the confessions of certain profes¬ 
sional subjects,* notably among which stands Min- 

*See “Professional Subjects” under “Evil Effects of Hyp¬ 
notism” for explanation of what is meant by this term. 


—52— 




nock.^ Most of these are genuine hypnotic subjects, 
but being devoid of principle they get mad at some 
one who has employed them and resolve to attempt 
his ruin and make some money from selling their 
confessions by declaring hypnotism a “fake.” After 
a man has been hypnotized a large number of times, 
he often gets so he can throw himself into the state, 
or produce auto-hypnosis. Hence he can do many 
of the same things that he did under the influence 
of some one else. The public, not knowing this, look 
with a certain amount of incredulity upon the whole 
affair. Occasionally some one of peculiar tempera¬ 
ment becomes a professional subject who has never 
been hypnotized. He never makes a good one, how¬ 
ever, and the fact that he is not under the influence 
is plainly apparent to the audience. Such usually 
secure employment in some museum, as their infe¬ 
riority to genuine subjects is so marked that no high 
class performer could possibly use them. 

Excuse. 

These subjects who pretend to confess usually do 
so under the guise of duty, etc. It is hardly pre¬ 
sumable that a man who has little enough principle 
to go on for years deceiving the public would be¬ 
come so good all at once as to decide to give up his 
position and tell the world what he knows for noth- 


— 53 — 


ing. Their so-called confessions are usually sold for 
sensational stuff for newspapers and “thereby hangs 
the tale.’’ Thus they have sacrificed truth, honor 
and integrity, for a few paltry dollars and a little 
ephemeral * notoriety, because down deep in their 
hearts they are bound to know that there is such a 
thing as hypnotism and that they have been hypno¬ 
tized. 


54- 


POST-HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION. 


By post-hypnotic suggestion we mean suggestions 
which are given to the hypnotee in the sleeping 
state, or when he is hypnotized, which continue to 
act, or are intended to act, at some future time in 
the awakening state. It has been called “deferred 
suggestion. ” 

It is this phase of hypnotism that is especially 
valuable from a medicinal standpoint. It enters 
into the cure of every habit. 

Cigarette Smoking. 

The man who smokes cigarettes is told when he 
is in a hypnotic state that he will not crave cigarettes 
in the future; that he will have no desire for them; 
that he cannot smoke them; that he will feel well 
without them; that the odor of the cigarette will 
nauseate him, etc. 

When he is awakened he remembers nothing that 
has happened. The suggestions that have been 
given are to him a blank; but the moment he comes 
in contact with the once delightful cigarette, what 
a change has come over him! He now turns his 


— 55 — 



head away; he grows sick at the stomach; a feeling 
of hate and disgust takes place, and he quickly 
pushes the harmful agent aside. 

He knows not why he dislikes cigarettes, but he 
simply dislikes them. It is done. He is not only 
placed in the same condition in which he was before 
he acquired the habit of smoking cigarettes, but 
hypnotism goes further—it excites a disgust, a 
loathing, for the article once so much coveted. 

Insomnia. 

Post-hypnotic suggestions are given in various 
forms. For example, a man may be troubled with 
insomnia; he is totally unable to secure the required 
rest at night. He is hypnotized, and in the third 
stage he is given a suggestion that he will go to sleep 
promptly at ten o’clock every night and sleep sound¬ 
ly. He remembers nothing, but when ten o’clock 
comes each evening he becomes drowsy, he feels 
sleepy, he retires, and secures the much needed rest. 

As a therapeutic agent for the treatment of nerv¬ 
ous disorders post-hypnotic suggestion is certainly 
unequaled. We do not mean that it is always the 
only remedy that should be used: in many cases it 
should be used in connection with proper medicines, 
and in others it will bring about the normal condi¬ 
tion unaided. 


—56— 



PATIENT BEING TREATED BY HYPNOTISM FOR A 6EVERE CA8E OF NEURALGIA, 































































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HYPNOTISM AND CRIME. 


Criminal Agent. 

Whatever position may be taken on the criminal 
phase of this subject there is no likelihood that hyp¬ 
notism will ever become a criminal agent. Grant 
that you could cause a subject to commit crimes, 
detection of the real criminal is too easy to warrant 
its use for this purpose, and again the fact that no 
one can be hypnotized against his will would pre¬ 
vent those immorally inclined from getting subjects 
for evil purposes. 

It is held by the highest authorities on this sub¬ 
ject that no one can be compelled to perform an act 
in the hypnotic state that is contrary to any well- 
settled moral principles. An honest man could not 
be made to steal, or a moral man to take human life. 
Hypnotism does not destroy a man’s previous edu¬ 
cation. His sense of right and wrong are due to 
auto-suggestion, and are not interfered with by 
hypnosis. 

Auto-Suggestion. 

Auto-suggestion, or the subject’s own suggestion, 


—57— 



is stronger than the suggestion of a hypnotist, and 
when the hypnotist gives a command opposed to the 
subject’s auto-suggestion, or moral belief, the sub¬ 
ject will refuse to carry out same. I am not theor¬ 
izing in making these statements, but simply re¬ 
cording facts which able experimenters have de¬ 
duced from a series of practical demonstrations. 
For experiments of this kind to possess any value, a 
suggestion must be given which if carried out would 
constitute a real crime. Subjects may be caused to 
commit all sorts of imaginary crimes, but these 
prove nothing. 

Secrets. 

We have no instances on record in which any one 
has divulged a secret while under hypnotic influ¬ 
ence, although this has been tried upon subjects 
over and over again. Hypnotism is of no value in 
extorting confessions from criminals. 

People will tell falsehoods while under hyp¬ 
nosis the same as they will in their natural state, 
and the law of self-preservation would prevent 
a criminal trom saying anything detrimental to his 
interests. 

I have heard of a number of cases, in both this 
country and Europe, in which hypnotism was sup¬ 
posed to play a part in crime, but upon looking them 


up closely have found no evidence whatever upon 
which to support such a belief. 

Kansas. 

True, a man was acquitted of murder in Kansas 
upon the ground that “he was hypnotized," but he 
afterward made a death-bed confession stating that 
he did not even know what hypnotism was, had never 
seen any of it, and had merely set up this plea to 
prey upon the superstitions of the public. 

The Supreme Court of Kansas, however, reviewed 
the case long before the confession was made, and 
stated that the man should never have been ac¬ 
quitted, that it seemed to be a case of miscarriage of 
justice, etc. 

General Knowledge. 

Even if hypnotism were a criminal agent, a gen¬ 
eral knowledge of the subject would protect any one 
from being caused to do something against his 
wishes after permitting himself to be hypnotized. 
This knowledge can be obtained in a short time, 
from reading a good scientific work and witnessing 
a few demonstrations. For a full discussion of this 
subject, showing why hypnotism can not be made 
a criminal agent, the reader is referred to Hudson’s ^ 
Law of Psychic Phenomena. 


—59— 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE, CLAIRVOY¬ 
ANCE , ETC 

Many clairvoyants, probably a majority of them, 
are charlatans; but, there are others whose honesty 
and integrity cannot be questioned. Clairvoyance 
means clear seeing—the ability to see and tell of 
things existing at a distance, but not things which 
will happen in the future. Thought-transference has 
reference to the ability of one person to read the 
thoughts of another person’s mind, or to transfer his 
thoughts to the mind of another. 

The London Society of Psychological Research has 
gathered a large amount of scientific data which seems 
to establish clearly the reality of Thought-transference 
or Clairvoyance. 

In making investigations of this character, it must 
be borne in mind that, when a person is hypnotized, 
all the faculties are hyper-sensitive, and suggestions 
may be given that are hardly intelligible to persons 
in their waking state. Often things are attributed to 
telepathy which are in reality due to the hyper-sensi¬ 
tive condition of the subject’s senses. It is argued 
by some that, if telepathy and clairvoyance exist, that 
the conditions are exceedingly rare; but, we believe 
that the reader will concede that the rarity of a thing 


does not necessarily disprove its existence. Diamonds 
are rare but they exist the same as dirt. 

As a rule, those who attempt to investigate these 
subjects are unfortunate enough to fall into the hands 
of some charlatan, and, with one or two so-called sit¬ 
tings, they are completely disgusted and pronounce 
the whole thing a delusion. But, on the other hand, 
we have yet to find a single individual who really 
made an honest and scientific investigation of clairvoy¬ 
ance and telepathy, but that at the end of the investi¬ 
gation he admitted that he had been confronted with 
certain phenomena which was inexplicable through 
ordinary channels. 

About the only way that one can investigate these 
subjects properly, is to go to a clairvoyant who is well 
known for honesty and integrity; or, a better way, 
perhaps, is to hypnotize a large number of different 
persons and develop Clairvoyance and Thought-trans¬ 
ference in some of these subjects. It is not with every 
subject that you can develop this power, but it can be 
developed to a greater or less degree in some, and 
anyone who really wishes to convince himself that re¬ 
markable phenomena actually exists, can do so if he 
is persistent, and is willing to try a number of differ¬ 
ent persons. 


—61 — 


CAN A PERSON BE HYPNOTIZED AGAINST 
HIS WILL? 

We have been criticised for our position on this 
question, as outlined in the first part of this book. 
We believe the criticism, however, is largely founded 
upon a misunderstanding of the will. If a person is 
hypnotized in natural sleep when his will is not act¬ 
ing, but in a dormant condition, he is not hypnotized 
against his will, because he is not exercising his will 
one way or the other. If, by adroit means you hyp¬ 
notize a man, he is not thrown into the condition con¬ 
trary to his will, because he has not used his will to 
resist the influence. If the subject firmly believes that 
you can hypnotize him, whether he wishes to be 
hypnotized or not, his fear of you may produce an 
inertia of the will, and, if you hypnotize him he is still 
not hypotized against his will, because he has not ex¬ 
ercised his will to resist you. So our position, as laid 
down in “Eleven Fundamental Propositions,” still 
seems to be true, that it is utterly impossible to hyp¬ 
notize any person against his will, “if that person uses 
his will to resist the influence.” People may seem to 
be hypnotized against their wishes or desire, but 
never against their will. 


—62— 


REVIEW OF MR* ERNEST HART'S WORK 
ON HYPNOTISM, MESMERISM AND 
THE NEW WITCHCRAFT. 


Not an Authoritative Work. 

It is questionable whether this work should be 
accorded the dignity of being mentioned. Owing, 
however, to the general scarcity of scientific knowl¬ 
edge on hypnotism we have deemed such advisa¬ 
ble as some might read the book and imagine Mr. 
Hart an authority on the subject, thus doing him, 
and hypnotism as well, a great injustice. The easi¬ 
est way to show the fallacies of the work from a sci¬ 
entific standpoint is simply to quote from the pages 
of Mr. Hart’s own book. Here it may truly be said: 
“Out of thine own mouth will I condemn thee.” 

Mr. Hart Tells of Some of the Values of 
Hypnotism. 

“Dr. Elliotson attended a very near and dear 
relative of mine who was suffering from a chronic 
and painful affection of the joints which murdered 
—63— 



rest. He was successful in giving her sleep at 
nights by the use of hypnotism unaccompanied by 
other anaesthetics. ’’—Mr. Hart’s book, page 4. 

Mr. Hart Cures Diseases. 

“Staying at a well-known country house in Kent 
of a distinguished London banker, I had been called 
upon to put to sleep, and to arrest a continuous 
barking cough from which a young lady who was 
staying in the house was suffering and who conse¬ 
quently was a torment to herself and friends. I 
thought this a good opportunity for a control experi¬ 
ment and I sat her down in front of a lighted candle, 
which I assured her I had previously mesmerized. 
Presently her cough ceased and she fell into a pro¬ 
found sleep which lasted till twelve o’clock next day. ’ ’ 
—Mr. Hart’s book, page 11. 

Mr. Hart Forgets What He Had Previously 
Written. 

“Hypnotism for curative purposes is very rarely 
useful, generally entirely useless and often injuri¬ 
ous. ”—Mr. Hart's Book, page 68. 

The inconsistencies of the preceding are too ap¬ 
parent to require any comments from us, so we 
leave his argument thus far to rest in the field of its 
own inimitable glory. 


—64— 



THREE PERSONS BEING TREATED AT ONCE FOR THE TOBACCO HABIT, BY MR. A. B. McDOLE, 

IN POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y. 

HYPNOTISM IS ONE OF THE VERY BEST TREATMENTS FOR ANY HABIT. 







































11 gg ' - i 











Mr. Hart Hypnotizes Himself. 

“I can generally succeed in putting myself to 
sleep at any hour of the day, either in the library 
chair or in the brougham. This is, so to speak, a 
process of self-hypnotization, and I have often prac¬ 
ticed it when going from house to house, and when 
in the midst of a busy practice, and sometimes I 
have amused my friends and family by exercising 
this faculty, which I do not think it very difficult to 
acquire.”—Mr. Hart’s book, page 16. 

Mr. Hart Again Forgets Himself. 

“I fully admit that, under the influence of certain 
psychological stimuli, persons whose nervous sys¬ 
tem is ill-balanced, or at best in a condition of un¬ 
stable equilibrium, readily pass into a state which 
we may, if we choose, call ‘hypnotic sleep.’ ”—Mr. 
Hart’s book, page 167. 

Mr. Hart’s Lamentable Condition as Told by 
Himself. 

I merely quote the above to show Mr. Hart’s la¬ 
mentable condition. He says he is a first-class sub¬ 
ject, and that the nervous system of all good sub¬ 
jects is ill-balanced. As a matter of courtesy if noth- 
-65- 


ing more, I will concede that part of his argument 
which relates to the ill-balanced condition of his own 
nervous system, which, however, might have been 
inferred from his numerous contradictions, but sim¬ 
ply because he happens to be a good subject in spite 
of his ill-balanced nervous system, I deny that Mr. 
Hart’s condition is the ideal one for good hypnotic 
subjects, or for the author of a reliable work on 
hypnotism. 

Mr. Hart Sanctions the Use of Hypnotism in 
Surgery. 

“When an abscess is to be opened, a foreign body 
to be extracted or one or more teeth to be drawn, I 
do not hesitate to hypnotize the subject and to hand 
him over to the surgeon. It happens to me fre¬ 
quently enough to have a certain number of subjects 
with teeth to be drawn. I place them in the condi¬ 
tion of lucid somnambulism, I address myself to the 
dentists, who examine the mouth at leisure, and 
extract the diseased teeth, whilst the subject, insen¬ 
sible throughout, on waking has no recollection of 
the operation he has undergone, and is quite aston¬ 
ished to find his extracted teeth in his hand.”—Mr. 
Hart’s book, page 156. 


—66— 


Mr. Hart Disapproves of the Surgical Use or 
Hypnotism. 

“At the present time the application of hypno¬ 
tism to surgical therapeutics is of absolutely no ac¬ 
count. ”—Mr. Hart’s book, page 155. 

The reader will please contrast the two above quo¬ 
tations and draw his own conclusions. 

Mr. Hart Tells Us the Nature of Hypnotism. 

“I have illustrated the identity of the phenomena 
of hypnotism with those of hysteria.”—Mr. Hart’s 
book, page 74. 

Mr. Hart Says He Did Not Know Anything 
About What He Told Us. 

“As to the nature of hypnotism or the condition 
which it underlies, we are at present in the dark.”— 
Mr. Hart’s book, page 167. 

Mr. Hart has first presumed to explain hypno¬ 
tism, then frankly admitted that he knows nothing 
about it, which from his writings, I am inclined to 
accept as true. 

Any person who possesses a fair knowledge of hyp¬ 
notism can take a few subjects and demonstrate in 
thirty minutes the utterly untenable positions which 
Mr. Hart has taken. 


-67- 


Mr. Hart Asserts Things Without Proof. 

While I would not say that he has desired to de¬ 
ceive, still the credulity with which he accepts 
statements regarding the evils of hypnotism is cer¬ 
tainly most lamentable, and he further seems to 
have the unhappy faculty of allowing himself to 
write things as facts without one iota of proof. 

Mr. Hart and Cotton Mather, the Noted Witch 
Persecutor. 

Mr. Hart’s book as a whole very much reminds 
me of Cotton Mather’s vehement denunciation of 
witchcraft, and his advocacy of capital punishment 
for such offenses; though Mather’s work was not 
marked by so many contradictions. However, if 
Mr. Hart had lived at Mr. Mather’s time, they 
undoubtedly would have found each other most 
agreeable companions. 


—68— 


VIEWS OF THE HYPNOTIC MAGAZINE. 


To give the reader an intelligent idea of the real 
nature of hypnotism, I do not know how I could do 
anything better than to present the articles of belief 
of the “Hypnotic Magazine.” While I do not co¬ 
incide with all the opinions of the editor, I cannot do 
otherwise than say that he is undoubtedly possessed 
of more than ordinary erudition and genius, and that 
the world owes to him a debt for his careful and 
painstaking investigation of the science of hypno¬ 
tism and the clear and true explanation of it as pre¬ 
sented by his magazine. 

The following is the creed of the magazine, as 
printed in each number thereof: 

1. The subject, or hypnotized person, is always 
responsible for his actions. 

2. The subject’s moral resistance is as strong in 
the hypnotic as in the waking state. 

3. The subject will not accept a suggestion, or a 
post-hypnotic suggestion, which conflicts with his 
principles, or his all-potent instinct of self-preser¬ 
vation. 



4. The subject submits to be hypnotized; he can¬ 
not be influenced against his will. 

5. The subject can break the hypnotic sleep and 
return to his normal state of consciousness, even in 
defiance of the operator’s suggestion. 

6. The subject is never unconscious; the subjec¬ 
tive mind is always on the alert. 

7. The suggestions which can be made to take 
root most readily in the subjective mind are those 
which are to the therapeutic advantage of the sub¬ 
ject. 

8. Suggested sense delusions are accepted by the 
subject with the subconscious understanding that 
they are produced merely for the purpose of experi¬ 
ment. 

9. A subject of good moral character cannot be 
induced by hypnotic suggestion to perform an act 
which he would consider immoral or even undigni¬ 
fied in his waking state. 

10. A subject of loose morals will exhibit the 
same characteristics in the hypnotic state, but will 
refuse to commit a crime which endangers his per¬ 
son (see “Instinct of Self-Preservation,’’ No. 3). 

11. A crime committed through post-hypnotic sug¬ 
gestion by a subject (if such a thing were possible) 
would be assuredly bungled, since the carrying out 


—70— 


of a complicated post-hypnotic suggestion entails a 
return to the state of active somnambulism, in which 
state inductive reasoning is impossible. 

12. The assent of the subject is always necessary 
to the carrying out of every suggestion. 

13. Auto-suggestion is more powerful than the 
suggestions of another. 

14. The only harm which can result to a subject 
lies in the possible ill results of foolish tests which 
the subject is willing to carry out. 


—71— 


AUTO-HYPNOSIS. 


Many persons possess the faculty of throwing 
themselves into the hypnotic state, this is accom¬ 
plished in several different ways: Some do so by 
merely lying down upon a couch and concentrating 
their minds strongly on sleep; others make use of 
bright objects and revolving mirrors. I do not ap¬ 
prove of continued auto-hypnosis by the use of 
bright objects and revolving mirrors as it sometimes 
produces eye trouble. This, however, would not 
ordinarily result from the state being produced any 
reasonable number of times. When the state is pro¬ 
duced by mere concentration of the mind, it is cer¬ 
tainly a most desirable ability to possess, as not the 
slightest evil consequences in any respect can possi¬ 
bly result; the effects will wear off in every case 
and the party will awaken the same as he would 
from an ordinary sleep. People who are the happy 
possessors of this faculty need never suffer from in¬ 
somnia, besides being able to alleviate many pains 
to which the flesh is heir. 

In auto-hypnosis, the same as in being hypnotized 


—72— 




SUBJECTS IN A CATALEPTIC STATE (WITH THE LIMBS PERFECTLY RIGID) POSED TO REPRESENT A DEATH 
SCENE. THE PICTURE GIVES ONE BUT LITTLE IDEA OF THE SCENE ITSELF WITH COLORED 
LIGHTS FLICKERING THEREON. ALSO MUCH OF THE FACIAL EXPRESSION 
HAS BEEN LOST IN ENGRAVING. 








by any other means, it is often a question of re¬ 
peated trials before the party can fully enter the 
state. If one wishes to induce the condition upon 
himself he ought first to become acquainted with 
hypnotism, after which he should lie upon a couch 
for half an hour at a time, at the same period each 
day, with his mind strongly concentrated upon the 
fact that he is going to sleep; he must lead himself 
to believe that he is asleep, in some cases he may 
find it desirable to keep his mind concentrated by a 
process of counting from one to ten and repeating 
this for a considerable number of times, sometimes 
it is well to repeat the same sleep formulas for one¬ 
self that he would use to produce the state upon 
others. After a person once passes into a state of au¬ 
to-hypnosis it will ordinarily be easy for him to do 
so in the future, as he has learned the process and 
is able to comply with the conditions necessary to 
bring about the desired results. 


— 73 — 


SIMPLICITY OF HYPNOTISM SHOWN BY AUTO¬ 
HYPNOSIS. 


This self-induced state shows, beyond the shadow 
of a doubt, that hypnotism is entirely a subjective 
condition; that is, exists within the mind of the 
subject, and that the operator merely assists the sub¬ 
ject to enter the state: it also gives us a better un¬ 
derstanding of hypnotism in general. When we re¬ 
member that the state can be induced by a person’s 
simply lying down upon a couch and thinking of 
sleep, we cannot help but realize its simplicity, and 
for any one to say that thinking of sleep impairs 
the intellect or affects anybody unfavorably, de¬ 
servedly subjects him to ridicule. The idea of its 
hurting any person to lie down and put himself 10 
sleep by mere concentration of the mind is too prepos¬ 
terous for further consideration . The majority of 
people who have talked so vaguely about the dan¬ 
gerous effects of this mighty power, are unac¬ 
quainted with the fundamental principles thereof— 
or golden silence would have supplanted their wild 
and unwarranted assertions. While many people 
are able to hypnotize others to a greater or less ex- 


— 74 — 



tent, very few seem to have anything like a definite 
idea of the subject; they fail to go back to first prin¬ 
ciples; they persist in looking upon it as a power of 
some kind. I have no desire to criticise such per¬ 
sons for their deficiency of knowledge, but they are 
certainly to be criticised for presuming to write ar¬ 
ticles intended for the edification of the public. 
Simply because a man happens to understand one 
thing, does not necessarily imply that he knows all 
things. In this age of specialties, a man might, 
even in the field of medicine, be quite eminent in the 
histology of the brain, and know very little about set¬ 
ting a broken arm, so the fact that a man’s name is 
followed by M.D., Ph.D., or D.D., does not neces¬ 
sarily imply within itself a thorough scientific knowl¬ 
edge of hypnotism. This is only acquired by the 
study of this particular subject. Whenever a man 
says the hypnotism within itself is injurious, he says 
that to throw himself into a sleep by thinking of it 
for a few seconds is injurious; whenever he says 
that hypnotism is a dangerous power, he says to fall 
asleep by concentrating the mind upon sleep is a 
dangerous power. You may say this is different, 
but these are the elementary principles of hypno¬ 
tism, and there is no way for any one to get around 
them. When a man looks at the process of the ex- 


— 75 — 


traction of cube root who has never studied arithme¬ 
tic and who knows nothing about notation and 
numeration it seems very strange and complicated 
to him. If he presumed to tell how such was accom¬ 
plished, his explanation would probably be very ridic¬ 
ulous—still this is what we constantly do in hypno¬ 
tism. We look at the advanced phases; we are tot¬ 
ally ignorant of the fundamental principles; yet we 
presume to promulgate our opinions and hold on 
to them with a tenacity that is more remarkable 
for stubbornness than for common sense. The only 
way to understand the extraction of cube root is to 
commence at the first of arithmetic and acquaint 
yourself with the subject step by step, then we com¬ 
prehend the simplicity of the subject; this is the 
only way to learn hypnotism. Without a clear idea 
of its fundamental principles no one can ever get a 
good idea of the science. The majority of articles 
that have appeared have been written by persons 
who have never hypnotized more than fifty people 
in their lives and most of them by parties who never 
hypnotized ten people; they know nothing about 
the subject from experience and little from theory. 
It is to be hoped that the reader will carefully in¬ 
vestigate auto-hypnosis, as it throws a flood of light 
upon the whole subject. 

-; 6 _ 


SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE 
PRACTICE OF HYPNOTISM* 


Owing to the peculiar nature of hypnotism it most 
unfortunately has been made a fertile field for 
superstition, sensation and imaginary evils. Many 
people look upon a hypnotist as a person possessing 
some dreadful and awful power and are decidedly in 
favor of prohibiting the practice of such a danger¬ 
ous (?) thing bylaw. Any one who will take the 
trouble to read the history of witchcraft carefully 
cannot fail to discern how analogous some of the fa¬ 
natic opinions of that day, regarding witchcraft, are 
to those of the present day regarding hypnotism. 
Undoubtedly the next generation will read our views 
on this latter subject in a similar light to that in 
which we now peruse the history of witchcraft. It 
will be a wonder to our progeny that a science so 
simple in its nature, one so easily understood, could 
have been made a hotbed of so much bigotry and 
fanaticism. 

A large number of people are firm in their belief 
that hypnotism is the work of the devil. 


— 77 — 



PECULIAR INCIDENTS. 


An incident happened in Middletown, Conn., not 
long ago. A lady sent her son to have his tooth 
extracted. The dentist employed hypnotism as an 
anaesthetic, and when the boy returned, his mother 
gave him a dollar to go to the priest to have the 
devils cast out. I do not know what the priest did 
in the matter, but I am inclined to think that his 
good sense would prompt him to dispel the supersti¬ 
tious phase of the subject and instead of wasting his 
time in trying to cast out devils he made a few plain 
scientific statements to the boy’s mother. 

I knew a gentleman who was connected with a re¬ 
ligious institution was so unfortunate as to sprain 
his ankle very severely. The sprain caused him 
great suffering which was not abated with the or¬ 
dinary remedies. A friend of his induced him to 
try hypnotism to relieve the pain. This he very re¬ 
luctantly consented to, and the very moment that the 
pain was partially eased he would make the hypno¬ 
tist cease his work, never at any time going fully un¬ 
der the influence. When the pain would return to 

- 78 - 



its greatest severity he would allow the hypnotist 
to work upon him a little more. He would not take 
much at once, as he believed the power was acquired 
from intercourse with his Satanic Majesty. How¬ 
ever, he thought rather than to suffer so much pain 
he could take a little of Satan’s influence at a time. 

A rather curious instance happened at Montreal, 
Canada. A young lady was suffering from a cer¬ 
tain form of functional paralysis, so that locomotion 
was practically impossible. After other remedies 
had been tried in vain, she was hypnotized by a lo¬ 
cal physician and restored to normal state. A num¬ 
ber of her friends were very much opposed to her 
taking the treatment. They declared that such treat¬ 
ment emanated from the evil spirits, and further 
that it had no effect—that it would do her no good. 
After she was cured, however, they could not deny 
the cure; but they all got together and decided that 
such cure was brought about by intercourse with 
the Evil One, and that a life of suffering and misery 
was preferable to a life of happiness by such means. 

A gentleman in Wilmington, Del., was suffering 
from a very severe attack of neuialgia. It had con¬ 
tinued for nearly three months with only temporary 
relief at times by the use of powerful opiates. 
Against the wish of his wife and several of his 


— 79 — 


friends he consulted a hypnotist. In a few days Tie 
was relieved and was greatly elated over his cure. 
A number of his friends got together, however, 
among whom was a very pious deacon. They got 
down their Bibles and read and re-read the references 
to witchcraft, and looked up everything that could in 
any way reflect upon the dreadful power of hypno¬ 
tism. Finally all the passages were put together and 
this valuable therapeutic agent was summarily pro¬ 
nounced as the work of the demons. The man was 
denounced for allowing himself to be cured by such 
nefarious means and threatened with expulsion from 
church and society, unless he forthwith pleaded for 
forgiveness from God and solemnly promised never 
to allow any one to exercise this terrible thing over 
him again. 

Extraordinary Case. 

Another case happened in Delaware, in which a 
young lady was treated and cured of a certain ner¬ 
vous disorder by hypnotic suggestion. After her 
cure her friends denounced the method of treatment 
as being sacrilegious and asked that the lady make 
a public confession of her wrong doings. She spoke 
lightly of such, but her friends kept pressing the 
matter and talking to her until finally they partially 


—80— 



EXTRACTING A TOOTH UNDER HYPNOTIC INFLUENCE. THE PATIENT PERCEIVES NO PAIN WHATEVER, NOR IS 
THERE ANY SORENESS IN THE GUMS AFTER THE OPERATION. 









convinced her that she had been guilty a great 
evil, so that in a few months her mind was so af¬ 
fected that she was a fit subject for the insane asy¬ 
lum, and it was reported over the country that hyp¬ 
notism had caused a beautiful and accomplished lady 
to go insane, and its practice was severely denounced 
and stringent legislative enactments recommended. 
Her father, however, possessing more than ordin¬ 
ary good sense, immediately took his daughter away 
from her associates, and had her re-hypnotized, and 
these hallucinations and her melancholy dispelled by 
hypnotic suggestion. In the course of a week she 
was all right. He then sent her away to a school so 
that she might be relieved of the dangerous influ¬ 
ence of the community. Here hypnotism got the 
credit of being a terrible thing, but we ask the 
reader from whence the harm emanated ? Instead 
of passing laws controlling hypnotism, the thing 
needed was appropriation for the education of that 
particular community.* It will be very unfair, how¬ 
ever, to judge Delaware as a State from these two 
cases. Similar instances have doubtless occurred in 
nearly every State in the Union. We personally know 
of something or other of this kind in at least two- 
thirds of the States. It simply shows that while we 
are educated as a mass still there are cases of super- 


—81— 


stition just as rank to-day in our midst as those in 
the mediaeval times, and this superstition is a thou¬ 
sand times more dangerous to the welfare of the com¬ 
munity or country than hypnotism and all the things 
like it ever can be or ever will be. We have known 
of a number of cases in which the health of people 
has been ruined and their minds affected through 
this very superstition, either in themselves or their 
friends. In investigating the dangers of hypnotism 
this superstition has been very forcibly presented to 
my mind, and presented in a way that I never 
dreamed of before. Previous to this time I could 
hardly conceive of its existence to such an enormous 
degree; but it is a fact more marvelous to me than 
this, that intelligent physicians even will sometimes 
fail to make any allowance for it in accounting for 
certain injuries, when such injuries are claimed as a 
result of hypnotism or some kindred force. I do not 
doubt but that in some cases people who have been 
hypnotized have been injured, but not by hypno¬ 
tism. The injury was ascribed to hypnotism when 
it should be ascribed to superstition and ignorance. 


—82— 


SIMILARITY OF THE HYPNOTIC STATE TO 
NATURAL SLEEP. 


As has been previously stated there is no physio¬ 
logical difference between natural and hypnotic 
sleep. Certain quantitative differences exist which 
are determined by experiments. It is impossible at 
the present time for any physician or anybody else, 
merely by making an examination without giving 
any suggestions, to determine in every case whether 
a man is in a hypnotic or natural sleep. 

Many persons have the idea that a man will not 
move in a hypnotic sleep, but this depends entirely 
upon the suggestions that are given and the belief 
of the subject before he enters this state. In consid¬ 
ering all phases of hypnotism we must make allow¬ 
ances for the belief of the subject before being hyp¬ 
notized. If a man firmly believes a thing before he 
is operated upon, that thing will influence him un¬ 
der hypnosis. If he believes that when he is hyp¬ 
notized he will lie as a log perfectly dead, his belief 
is equivalent to a suggestion. The same is true in 
regard to anaesthesia. 


-'“83— 



Anesthesia. 


I do not believe that hypnotism within itself or¬ 
dinarily produces a state of anaesthesia or insensi¬ 
bility to pain. Of course, when a suggestion is 
given that there is no pain a state of anaesthesia will 
result; also if the subject firmly believes before he is 
hypnotized that hypnotism within itself will produce 
a state of insensibility to pain, this would be equiva¬ 
lent to a suggestion. Hypnotism might produce 
anaesthesia in some other cases on account of the 
mind being so strongly concentrated upon some par¬ 
ticular thing other than feeling that the subject 
would take no notice of bodily injury; but I think 
in the absence of suggestions, that cases of this kind 
are not plentiful. I have never found a single one in 
all my experience. Some subjects are more sensi¬ 
tive to pain, when hypnotized, than in the natural 
state; while others are less sensitive. I am now 
speaking of subjects who know absolutely noth¬ 
ing about hypnotism as an anaesthetic. There 
is no question but that anaesthesia, as produced by 
hypnotism, is purely of psychical origin and is in 
no sense a pathological condition due to congestion 
of brain centers. My experiments lead me to the 
inevitable conclusion that subjects who have no pre¬ 
conceived idea of hypnotism, as an anaesthetic, are 
-84- 


sensitive to pain to a greater or less degree, until the 
suggestions are given that there is no feeling; if they 
are hypnotized by suggestions or by passes. I can¬ 
not say so well what the result might be when a 
bright object is used, as I have never employed it for 
such purposes for any considerable length of time. 
However I do not think it should ordinarily produce 
results different from the other processes. I think 
the majority of us fail to make sufficient allowance 
for the belief of the subject before being hypnotized 
and for things told him before he enters the state. I 
know the public generally make no allowances what¬ 
ever for this, and still it is an indispensable fact in 
determining the weight to be given to demonstra¬ 
tions. Suggestion is beyond question the great key 
to hypnotism, and as suggestions may be given in 
hypnotic sleep that will continue to act in the awak¬ 
ening state, so suggestions maybe given in the wak¬ 
ing state that will act in hypnotic sleep. It matters 
not when, how, or by what person the suggestion 
is implanted on the subject’s mind; so long as it is 
firmly implanted there it unquestionably will have 
its influence in whatever condition the subject may 
be, whether in his waking state, his ordinary sleep¬ 
ing state or in a hypnotic sleep. 


- 85 - 


FACULTIES OF THE MIND ACTIVE UNDER 
HYPNOTISM. 


There is no doubt but that the same faculties of 
the mind are active in the hypnotic sleep that are 
active in natural sleep. The fact that a subject in 
a hypnotic sleep is en *apport with the operator and 
will carry out certain suggestions given, while in 
the natural sleep the subject will ordinarily not carry 
out suggestions, seems to be the great difference be¬ 
tween the two sleeps. 

Some persons, in their natural sleep, however, 
will carry on a conversation with you and accept cer¬ 
tain suggestions carrying them out the same as the 
subject would in a hypnotic sleep. I have found two 
cases of this kind in my experience. This shows that 
while certain faculties of the mind are dormant, 
either in natural or hypnotic sleep, there is a dispo¬ 
sition on the part of the faculties remaining active 
to accept certain false or other suggestions, as true. 
I know of one case in which a party was broken of 
a habit simply by having suggestions given him in 
his natural sleep. The suggestions were given him in 
— 86 — 



a very low tone. The next morning when he awak- 
ened he knew nothing about them. He did not know 
that any one had spoken to him. But in three nights 
they had taken such a hold on him that the habit 
was entirely broken. I am not inclined to think 
that this mode of procedure would be possible with 
the average individual, as he would likely awaken 
from the noise of giving the suggestions. But the 
fact that it can be done, even in some cases, adds- 
very much to our understanding of hypnotism. 

Legislative Enactments. 

Parties who have been active in advocating legis¬ 
lative enactments in regard to hypnotism would do 
well to reflect on the above facts. It might be ad¬ 
visable to pass a law restraining a man from speak¬ 
ing in the presence of any one who is asleep for fear 
his words would take effect as suggestions, and unfa¬ 
vorable results follow. You can readily see the folly 
of all such argument as this. For the want of a clear 
understanding of the nature of hypnotic phenomena, 
we become very much excited from imaginary evils. 


-87- 


THE REAL DANGER 


The real danger connected with hypnotism is very 
different from that which people ordinarily imagine. 
While we have repeatedly said and still adhere to 
our former statement that hypnotism within itself 
never hurt anybody, still we must concede that in 
a few cases harmful effects have followed hypnosis 
as the result of the patient’s ignorance of the sub¬ 
ject. This may seem a little queer as we have been 
led to believe that the great danger was in the im¬ 
proper application of it by the operator. This would 
be true, if the danger were in hypnotism; but this, 
alas, is not the real danger. If it were it could be 
much more easily controlled than it is. The great 
trouble lies in the imagination of the people. This 
imagination is heightened by ignorance and super¬ 
stition. While it is not possible to hypnotize any 
one against his will, still if some person firmly be¬ 
lieves that he can be actually hypnotized and con¬ 
trolled by another person, the party with such a be¬ 
lief is in a lamentable condition. He is the subject 
of a delusion, and his great belief in this direction 



YOUNG MEN IN CATALEPTIC STATE POSED TO REPRESENT AN EXECUTION SCENE. THE PICTURE DOES NOT DO THE SCENE JUSTICE, AS 
COLORED LIGHTS WERE THROWN ON THE ORIGINAL, AND AGAIN THE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS HAVE BEEN MARRED IN ENGRAVING. 

















































% 



























































might possibly enable some one else to control him 
to a certain extent. This control, however, is in no 
sense dependent upon the operator’s knowledge of 
hypnotism nor his ability to hypnotize others; in 
fact, the party who presumes to exercise such a con¬ 
trol need know nothing of hypnotism at all. We 
have a question here to deal with virtually outside 
of the domain of hypnosis, the whole thing is de¬ 
pendent upon the subject’s belief. Sensational 
newspaper stories in regard to the great dangers of 
this subject have done more to injure people than 
everything else put together. 

Peculiar Case at Lancaster, Pa. 

A man came to me in Lancaster, Pa., who said 
that some one was controlling him by an unseen 
power, and that his mind was affected so that he was 
unable to attend to his business. This latter state¬ 
ment I ascertained to be true. The gentleman said 
that he was hypnotized unconsciously on a train 
about a year previous to the time he came to me, and 
that ever since that the hypnotist had been exercis¬ 
ing a control over him which totally unfitted him for 
business. He wished to know if I could break the 
spell. I assured him that I could do so and asked 
—89— 


him to close his eyes. After making a number 01 
passes over him, and giving him the proper sugges¬ 
tions, I commanded him to open his eyes and he 
seemed very much relieved. From this time he was 
apparently all right. More than two years have now 
elapsed and he attends to his business as usual. 

If the man had understood hypnotism he would 
not have been the victim of this unfortunate circum¬ 
stance. 


PERSONAL MAGNETISM, 

Personal Magnetism is a term which is generally ap¬ 
plied to that peculiar and indescribable influence which 
some people exercise over others. Whatever may be 
theories concerning it, we cannot deny but that it 
comes under the same law as hypnotism. Both owe 
their existence to a common basis. 

We cannot develop one without acquiring in some 
degree, the other. Hypnotism is A, B, C, of personal 
magnetism. This latter is the application of the hyp¬ 
notic law in its higher and more advanced phrases. 
While some are undoubtedly more magnetic than 
others by nature, still anyone can acquire the power 
who chooses to do so. 


In his admirable work on public speaking, Professor 
Nathan Sheppard says: “ All this magnetic power of 

which we read so much, now turning up in the shape 
of a miraculous gift from Heaven in the hands of a 
Mesmeric Doctor, and now in the familiar ambiguity 
of our ancient friends, Biology and Psychology.” All 
this, whatever it is, works out from the physical side 
of our nature, and whatever may be our superstitious 
notions, or scientific solutions of it, there it is, the most 
powerful constituent element of public speaking, or 
oratory, or fishing for men or winning souls, and all 
the way from that, to carrying an election for village 
constable.” 

The person who possesses this mysterious force is 
always interesting, he may not say anything of great 
consequence, but he is nevertheless interesting, there 
is a charm about his manner and his voice which at¬ 
tracts and holds your attention. There is often more 
in the way a thing is said than there is in what is said. 

Every one who expects to come into contact with 
people who desires to influence people, and exercise a 
power for good in the world, should devote himself 
assiduously to the study of this subject. There is 
nothing which will bring such rich reward for the time 
and money spent. 


—91— 


CASE IN NEW YORK. 


A case happened in a city in New York State in 
which a gentleman went to a dentist to have a tooth 
extracted, and the dentist used a local anaesthetic 
He did not employ hypnotism at all; but 
the anaesthetic, being entirely new to the 
patient, he got thinking over the matter af¬ 
terward, and imagined that hypnotism had been 
used on him unconsciously as he was igno¬ 
rant of any anaesthetic other than chloroform and 
ether, and as no inhaler was employed he naturally 
inferred that he had been hypnotized, as he had 
read a number of sensational articles in which peo¬ 
ple had been hypnotized unconsciously (one in par¬ 
ticular in which it was represented that a dentist 
had hypnotized a young lady one time and caused 
her to elope with him). After he had the tooth 
pulled, every day at io o’clock he would come to the 
dentist’s office claiming that he was acting under 
the influence of hypnotism, that the dentist had 
placed a spell over him of some kind. This was con¬ 
tinued for over a month when he brought a suit for 


—92— 



damages against the dentist. In the trial it was 
shown that the dentist had no knowledge of hypno¬ 
tism whatever, so the case was dismissed and the 
patient got rid of his hallucination. It would have 
been utterly impossible for the dentist to have 
placed the spell over him even if he had desired to 
do so; here again hypnotism got the credit for be¬ 
ing a very dangerous thing. 

Palpitation of the Heart Caused by Ignorance 
of Hypnotism. 

An incident happened in a city in Eastern Penn¬ 
sylvania in which a young man was hypnotized by 
a physician for the cigarette habit and a cure there¬ 
fore effected. An unscrupulous physician, who be¬ 
longed to another school, got hold of the young man 
and told him what a dangerous thing hypnotism 
was, producing sensational newspaper articles to 
substantiate his statements. He cited a number of 
cases of palpitation of the heart that it had caused,, 
and examined the heart of the young man who had 
been hypnotized and told him that he was also suf¬ 
fering from palpitation of the heart, which undoubt¬ 
edly had been brought on by being hypnotized for 
the cigarette habit. He so impressed the young 
man that in the course of a week or two he actually 


— 93 - 


had palpitation of the heart, or at least well-defined 
symptoms of the same. He most firmly believed that 
it had been produced by hypnosis and the papers 
took it up telling how a young man had been seri¬ 
ously injured by this dangerous power. I happened 
to be in the city about this time and heard of the 
case. Bringing considerable influence to bear upon 
the matter, I induced the young man to call on me. 
This he did against his wishes and only upon condi¬ 
tion that he was not to be hypnotized. I made an 
examination of the heart and questioned him about 
his cure for the cigarettes, which I found was still 
permanent; though he stated that the other was 
much more harmful to him than smoking cigarettes 
and he wished a thousand times that he had never 
been hypnotized. I showed him several scientific 
works on hypnotism and read extracts from them to 
him. I explained to him the nature of the subject, 
what effects it produced. He became interested and 
I saw that he began to have confidence in my state¬ 
ments, and I now pressed him still farther and told 
him the harm that had been done him by misrepre¬ 
senting hypnotism to him. This, he at first resented, 
but after a time he finally consented for me to hyp¬ 
notize him and give him suggestions to cure palpi¬ 
tation of the heart. This I did in a few minutes 


—94— 


and also gave him a suggestion that what the doctor 
had told him was utterly false, etc. When he awak¬ 
ened he felt very much better; he realized I bene¬ 
fited him. I asked him to call again the next day 
and he did. I repeated the suggestions. Since that 
time he has been all right, he has no trouble with 
his heart and has felt well in every respect. Here 
is a case in which we cannot deny the injury, and un¬ 
less one looked into the case he would naturally in¬ 
fer that hypnotism had harmed the young man be¬ 
cause people would say that before he was hypno¬ 
tized he was well and afterward he was sick. But the 
man who looks into the case can readily see where 
the real harm came in—the danger was not in hyp¬ 
notism but in ignorance of hypnotism. Had the 
young man paid no attention to what the second 
doctor told him, there would have been nothing on 
earth the matter with him. If people only under¬ 
stood it we would not read of these harmful effects. 
This lack of knowledge of the science is a thousand 
times more dangerous than all the suggestions of a 
hypnotist. With the advent of information the 
mighty unseen dangers of this awful power readily 
diminish until there are practically none left. It is 
to be regretted that such a valuable therapeutic 
agent should be so misjudged, even many physi- 


— 95 — 


cians will cry out against it, and some scientific men 
have written articles detrimental to it simply be¬ 
cause they fail to grasp the fundamental principles 
of it. They see results, they jump at conclusions in 
regard to causes, hence such erroneous beliefs. 

I have no desire to criticise any one, because no 
one should be criticised for that which he does not 
know. It seems to me that it would be a wise thing 
if physicians and others would investigate the sub¬ 
ject before forming definite opinions thereon. The 
best way for a physician to do is to learn hypnotism 
himself, apply it in his practice and treat one 
hundred or one hundred and fifty cases with it 
which are adapted to this mode of treatment. 
Then let him say what he has to say. If every man 
would do this, before expressing his opinions, there 
would be very few things indeed said detrimental to 
the science. 





wm 




THIS REPRESENTS A CAlALEPlIC 1 tof PfcHFOHMED BY DR. HEHBtHT L. FLINT, A VERY 
EMINENT HYPNOTIST. IT 18 USUALLY CONSIDERED A MOST REMARKABLE FEAT. 



















































































































































































































































































CASES TREATED BY HYPNOTIC SUGGES¬ 
TION. 


These cases are compiled from reports furnished 
by different eminent physicians. The author has 
thought the experience of many worth more than 
the experience of one. Reports could have be^n 
given much more glowing in character but these 
were omitted as being exceptional. We have en¬ 
deavored to select cases which neither overdraw nor 
underestimate the true value of Hypnotism as a 
therapeutic agent. Much care has also been taken 
to get reports from physicians of undoubted honesty 
and qualifications, and we feel that the character of 
the names here enrolled are in themselves sufficient 
guarantee for anything they may say in regard to 
the subject. 

The following cases are taken from reports fur¬ 
nished the Hypnotic Magazine by Dr. Herbert A. 
Parkyn, M. D. (Chicago). 

Mrs. R., the next case, came to the clinic suffer¬ 
ing from nervous prostration. She had taken 
several rest cures, and had spent months at differ¬ 
ent well known mineral springs without receiving 


— 97 — 



benefit. Six months before coming here for treat¬ 
ment she had given up all hope of recovery and had 
contented herself with staying at home and dosing 
herself with patent medicines. After a great deal 
of urging on the part of a friend she reluctantly 
presented herself for treatment here. 

On examination she was found to be very anemic, 
hysterical, hypersensitive and her weight forty 
pounds lower than normal. She suffered greatly 
from dyspepsia, constipation and insomnia. Her 
appetite was poor and her diet was limited to a very 
few articles. The patient complained continually 
of intense weakness and pain in the lumbar region. 
She had “prolapsus uteri.” 

After her first treatment she made the statement 
at her home that she was greatly improved. She 
prided herself on being a hopeless invalid, and when 
this statement of hers was repeated by her friends 
it annoyed her so that for over a week she refused 
to come back to the clinic, apparently for fear of 
being cured. 

During her absence, however, she had followed 
out the suggestions given her during her first treat¬ 
ment, and her restoration towards health was so 
marked that she was compelled, in spite of her con¬ 
victions, to acknowledge that she had received 
—98— 


marked benefit. The progress made in her case 
showed itself in the restoration of the normal action 
of the stomach, bowels, and general circulation. 
When she did return for treatment she entered 
very heartily into the work and within four weeks 
following she gained sixteen pounds in weight. At 
the present time she weighs more by several pounds 
than she ever did. The insomnia did not leave her 
until she had taken about six treatments upon her 
return. 

Mrs. H. and Mr. A. both suffered from self-con¬ 
sciousness, and a description of one will fit both. 

In this condition the patient is always thinking of 
himself, of the impression he is making on those 
with whom he comes in contact, and always suspects 
that those who look him directly in the eyes, do so 
simply to watch his embarrassment. A person of 
this sort will seldom look a person with whom he 
may be speaking straight in the eyes, and when en¬ 
joined to return the glance, he invariably declares 
that he would not like to do so because he would feel 
that the person he was looking at would feel em¬ 
barrassed himself, and think an attempt was being 
made to stare him out of countenance; and he would 
not inflict the same torture upon others which he 
fancied they were intentionally inflicting upon him. 


— 99 — 


At other times the patient may be enjoying him¬ 
self, with no trace of self-consciousness, but if a 
question be directed to him or a lull occur in the 
conversation, the patient's mind immediately re¬ 
verts to himself, self-consciousness returns and in 
an instant his hands and feet feel heavy, he feels 
awkward, he blushes deeply, feels that the eyes of 
every one in the room are upon him, and he is afraid 
to speak or move, much less look around him. If 
this condition continues for any length of time the 
victim usually becomes very retired, refusing to 
meet strangers or even his intimate friends. 

The two cases I have mentioned were of this 
nature, and after four weeks’ treatment in one case, 
and six weeks’ treatment in the other, they were 
dismissed cured. It is impossible for one who has 
never suffered from this trouble, or who has never 
come in contact with such cases, to form any idea 
of the mental torture experienced by the sufferer. 
Physical pain seems to vanish into insignificance 
beside it, and when the demon of self-consciousness 
fastens upon an individual, I know of no torture to 
which it can be compared. The only escape from 
this psychic torture is found in absolute quiet or 
sleep. 

These cases, strange as they may seem to those 


- i o— 


HYPNOTIZED YOUNG MEN BELIEVE THEMSELVES TO BE DARKIES PARTICIPATING IN A GREAT CAKE WALK 

















■unacquainted with mental conditions, are very com¬ 
mon, although seldom heard of, and the only re¬ 
lief for them on the face of the globe is found in 
Suggestion. 

In the treatment of these cases the first thing to 
be done is to completely change the environment of 
the patient, to get him away from his old haunts 
and associates, away from those whom he fancies 
must be aware of his condition. A patient of this 
class should receive as many treatments each day as 
are possible. He must have constant mental stim¬ 
ulation. He must have constant encouragement. 
For mental stimulation he is given certain commis¬ 
sions to execute, and these commissions are of such 
a nature that if left to his own inclinations, the vic¬ 
tim would never carry them out. 

For the time being the sufferer places himself in 
the relation of employee to employer ; and I have 
never failed to secure the patient’s assistance in 
carrying out this plan of action. 

During his treatment I lecture to him on timidity, 
pride and self-esteem. I tell him that he has no 
physical defects, that his education is much better 
than that of the average individual, (which is gener¬ 
ally true,) that there is nothing in his personal 
appearance from head to feet that would tend to at- 


— ioi — 


tract attention towards him, that he is very foolish 
to flatter himself that the average busy individual 
has time to examine critically his mental or physical 
appearance. 

I never tell the patient that I am going to break 
him of self-consciousness, but I impress upon him 
the idea that I am going to teach him a new method 
of making and receiving advances from those with 
whom he comes in contact; and how to place him¬ 
self in harmony with his environments. I do not 
refer to the old condition at all, but keep holding 
before him mental pictures of the way he should 
act, until eventually he unconsciously carries out 
the suggestions. 

When he arrives at this stage the fact is impressed 
distinctly upon him that if he acts as a man should, 
under ordinary circumstances, he really does not 
attract the attention of those around him. In time 
the patient’s manhood, independence, confidence and 
self-esteem assert themselves, and his old condition 
(self-consciousness) disappears from the horizon of 
his conscious thought and is only recalled as one 
recalls a bad dream. 


—102— 


DR. MASON ON EDUCATIONAL USES OF HYPNOTISM. 


R. Osgood Mason, M. D., in Pediatrics , Febru¬ 
ary, 1897, replies to a critic under the above title, 
and defends the use of hypnotism in general and its 
use for educational purposes in particular. He de¬ 
nies that it will produce, in the hands of any intelli¬ 
gent physician, hysteria, imbecility, or susceptibil¬ 
ity to every fleeting idea or impulse. He also 
denies the assertion of his critic that “the suscepti¬ 
bility to hypnotic influence is itself a stigma of 
neuroticism, perhaps of hysteria.” 

Among other cases of his own, which he recites, 
are these effects accomplished in children: 

A little boy, seven years of age, was a most un¬ 
happy coward, afraid of the slightest pain, and a 
coward and cry-baby among his playmates. He 
had some slight disease of the scalp which it was 
necessary to treat, but he would cry and run away 
the moment I entered the room. After one or two 
unhappy and only partially successful attempts at 
treatment, I decided to try suggestion. Placing 
him in a chair opposite me, I took his face and head 
firmly between my hands, and putting my face near 


—103— 



his, I commanded him to look steadily into my 
eyes. It was very difficult to secure his attention, 
but having secured it, I soothed him with passes 
and light touches until his eyelids drooped—he was 
then perfectly quiet, subjective and sleepy, but not 
asleep. I then suggested that he would no longer 
be a crying, whimpering coward, but a strong, 
brave boy ; that he would take his treatment with¬ 
out fear, and that he would stand up sturdily for his 
rights among his playfellows. This was repeated 
over and over, gently but firmly—he all the while 
remaining passive and sleepy, and apparently tak¬ 
ing no notice whatever of my suggestions. The 
next day I called he was shy but not troublesome, 
and with two or three repetitions of the suggestions 
he came promptly and bravely to his treatment. I 
was also informed that the change in his manner 
among his playmates was equally marked ; certainly 
all the crying and cowardly manner had disappeared, 
and he seems self-reliant and happy. 

The next case recited was one of night terrors in 
a little girl five years of age. Under light hypnosis 
she Was assured that the ‘‘big black man” would 
appear to her no more, and that she would sleep 
soundly the night through. This one suggestion 
was sufficient to relieve her. 


— 104 — 



THIS YOUNG MAN NOW ADDS FIGURES AT THE RATE OF 150 PER MINUTE, WHILE ONLY A SHORT TIME AGO 
HE COULD NOT ADD 75 PER MINUTE. THIS RESULT WAS BROUGHT ABOUT BY HYPNOTIC 
SUGGESTION, THIS CUT SHOWING HIM WHILE BEING DRILLED UNDER HYPNOSIS. 
























































































‘ 



























































































Another case is given of a girl of fifteen, who ex¬ 
perienced great difficulty in reciting. She could 
learn, but when called upon to face the school and 
answer to questions she was entirely unable to re¬ 
spond, and was obliged to take her seat in disgrace. 
Hypnosis and suggestions of her ability to perform 
these tasks, and suggestions against her timidity 
enabled her to pass very creditable examinations. 


CASES TAKEN FROM THE “HYPNOTIC MAGAZINE,** 
AS REPORTED BY PROF. THOMAS BASSETT 
KEYES, M.D., LL.D. (CHICAGO.) 

Mrs. L. W., age 37, gave a. history of having 
taken large doses of morphine hypodermically for 
eight years. The habit was acquired from the pre¬ 
scribing of the drug by her physician to relieve a 
difficulty in her throat, and coughing spells. Dur¬ 
ing the past year she had not coughed owing to the 
fact that she used a large amount of morphine, and 
at the time she came to the clinic she was using 
morphine every two hours. 

Dr. Keyes turned the case over to me for treat¬ 
ment. From July 2nd to July 9th she was hypno¬ 
tized daily, passing into a lethargic state, and strong 
suggestions were made for the relief of the habit. 
Suggestions were given that she would gradually 
lengthen the intervals of time between the doses of 
morphine, and also that she would reduce the 
amount of the dose. By July 10 she was much 
improved. The dose had been cut down to one- 
half the amount she originally took, and the fre¬ 
quency to twice, instead of several times, a day. 
At this time her old throat trouble returned with 


—106— 



symptoms of coughing and difficult breathing. 
Suggestions were made as to their relief until July 
13. Prof. Keyes at the time made a laryngoscopic 
examination, and a small growth was found on the 
left vocal cord. The growth was removed with the 
snare, and considerable relief followed. Hypnotic 
treatment was continued; the effects were more ap¬ 
parent, and she has now ceased taking morphine at 
all. She is hypnotized every third day, and is cer¬ 
tainly cured. Nothing is left of her asthma and 
the morphine habit, with its many soul and body 
destroying symptoms. 

In the above case the operation of removal ot the 
small growth from the vocal cord was accomplished 
with some difficulty, but it was done at the first 
effort. We were enabled to do this from the fact 
that the patient was in a hypnotic state. No one 
can appreciate the great advantage here gained bet¬ 
ter than myself, for during my practice I have had 
occasion to perform the same operation before, and 
it took weeks to train the patient to hold herself 
in proper position. In the above case it was ac¬ 
complished the first time, with much less soreness 
and discomfort to the patient. 

Mr. F. L. E., salesman, age 47, married. His 
general history was that he had drunk freely for the 


—107— 


past thirty years, and that he had had delirium 
tremens three times. When he came for treatment 
he was on the verge of having the delirium tremens 
again; in a very nervous state, and considerably in¬ 
toxicated, a face very red and bloated, and hands 
trembling. 

The history of this case was not taken until after 
the treatment. The friend who accompanied the 
patient had some difficulty in persuading him to be 
treated. Upon his first entering the room I asked 
his name. He had only told me when he started 
for the door, saying that he could not stay longer 
without a drink. He remained after being told that 
his treatment would not detain him long. We im¬ 
mediately commenced. Inside of two minutes he 
was in the somnambulistic state. Suggestions were 
made to the effect that it would make him vomit to 
think, smell, or taste whiskey or beer. When I told 
him that whiskey was poison and would inflame his 
stomach he shuddered. 

Upon awakening him we inquired whether he 
cared for a drink, and he at once commenced to gag 
and vomit. In his waking state suggestions were 
again made to the same effect, much stronger sug¬ 
gestions than are here printed being used. 

The following day he presented himself again for 


— ig8 — 


treatment. This time he was sober, though very 
nervous. He had been unable to eat anything since 
his last treatment. He was again put in the som¬ 
nambulistic state, and it was suggested that he 
would have a good appetite for food, but not for 
whiskey, etc. 

The following day when he came for treatment he 
said that he could not get enough to eat he was so 
hungry. He had improved greatly in appearance. 
One more treatment was considered necessary, 
though from the first he had lost all desire for whis¬ 
key and it had become repulsive to him. He 
could pass saloons without going in, something 
which he had not been able to do before for years. 
Cases of this kind should be kept under observation 
and treatment much longer, and occasionally hypno¬ 
tized. The craving very seldom returns again. 
Should it do so, the treatment if applied again will 
have a more lasting effect. 

The following case is one that I treated in private 
practice about one year ago: 

July 20, 1896.—Mr. G. H., aged 54, lawyer. A 
continual drinker for the past twenty years. His 
friends said that they could truthfully say that he 
had not drawn a sober breath for five years. He 
has had two attacks of delirium tremens and when 


—109— 


he was presented for treatment was in a very ner¬ 
vous condition. He was put into the somnambulis¬ 
tic state, and suggestions and impressions were 
made in a similar manner as in the preceding case, 
and with similar results. 

The patient remained well for one year, when I 
lost track of the case. 

One of the worst effects of drink is an enervation 
and destruction of the will power, and here hypno¬ 
tism has an important use. After a careful review 
of medical literature on the subject of drunkenness, 
I find that the most immediate and indisputable 
results have been obtained by the aid or use of 
hypnotic suggestion. On this all authors are agreed 
who have had any experience at all with suggestion 
and the treatment of these habits. 


—1 IO— 


THE FOLLOWING CASES ARE TAKEN FROM “SUG¬ 
GESTIVE THERAPEUTICS,” BY H. BERNHEIM, 

M. D., PROFESSOR ON THE FACULTY 
OF MEDICINE AT NANCY. 


Alphonse L-is a weaver, 40 years old. He 

has epilepsy. He came to the hospital on Oct. 21, 
1884. There is no direct hereditary history. Be¬ 
tween the sixth and thirteenth year he had glandu¬ 
lar abscesses in the sub-maxillary region. When 
he was eight years old he had his first attack, with¬ 
out any aura. Four years afterward, if his memory 
is correct, which is always doubtful in cases of epi¬ 
lepsy, he had the second, preceded by a burning 
sensation which went through his head, by a blow 
upon the head, epigastric weight, and alternate 
flexion and extension of the thumb. He was pretty 
well, except for slight attacks, until he was twenty 
years old. Since then the attacks have been more 
frequent. Four years ago he broke his arm by fall¬ 
ing. His wife says that he sometimes has three or 
four attacks a week. For the last twelve years he 


—hi— 




has gone more than two months without having an 
attack. For the last seventeen days he has had 
three attacks a day, after having passed eight days 
without one. The week preceding his admission to 
the hospital he had three attacks. He often has 
three or four attacks during the day, with 
intervening coma. He has sometimes bitten his 
tongue. On the 18th, at eight o’clock in the even¬ 
ing, he had an attack, and had two during the next 
day, the 19th, and one in the evening; the next 
day he felt too weak to go to work. Each attack is 
followed by tremor, which lasts for several days. 
Further, for the past two years he has had convul¬ 
sive shocks nearly every night. Before or after the 
attacks, sometimes after an interval of eight days, 
he often has wanderings and transient hallucina¬ 
tions. 

We find that his intelligence is somewhat dull, 
his temperament lymphatic, and his constitution 
delicate. There is slight tremor in both hands 
which has existed since the 18th. The right hand 
gives 22 by the dynamometer, the left 37. 

23rd.—Tremor still continues. He says that his 
upper limbs were rigid during the day. 

24th.—Condition same. Neuralgia. Hypnotiza- 
tion; light somnambulism. Suggestion. Upon 


— 112— 



THE YOUNG MAN IN THE PICTURE HAS JUST BEEN HYPNOTIZED AND HAD SUGGESTIONS GIVEN TO BREAK HIM 
OF SMOKING CIGARETTES. THE VERY SIGHT OF ONE NOW TURN8 HIM DEATHLY SICK. 









































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awaking the neuralgia has disappeared. The next 
night the patient sleeps well, which he has not done 
for eight days. The tremor has also disappeared. 

On the 26th, a new suggestion; the patient still 
feels better; the tremor, which was very decided 
before the first seance, has not reappeared; and the 
patient sleeps well. 

On the 31st, the right hand gives 30 by the 
dynamometer, and 47 after a hypnotic suggestion. 
The left hand gives 27 before and 37 afterward. 

On the 1st of November, the right hand gives 40 
before, and 51 afterward; the left still gives 37. 

On the 2d the patient is still doing well. He has 
had no paroxysms and no tremor. The right hand 
gives 37 before, and 43 afterward; the left hand 39 
and 46. The patient stays until November 9. 
He no longer complains of anything and asks for 
his discharge. 

Mile. X-, twenty-seven years old, generally 

enjoys good health. She is intelligent and has 
never been neuropathic, until, in August, 1885, she 
had two nervous crises, in consequence of some un¬ 
pleasantness. The first lasted two hours, the second 
appeared four days after the first and was character¬ 
ized like the first by severe convulsive movements 
with strangulation, without loss of consciousness, 


and lasted from nine o'clock in the morning to four 
o’clock in the afternoon. 

The crises have not been repeated. Mile. X- 

was nervous for some time and impressionable. 
She had no appetite. Then a visit in the country 
restored her to her usual health. 

Since November she has again felt a good deal of 
discomfort: complete loss of appetite, gloomy ideas, 
general demoralization, insomnia, often she does not 
sleep until daybreak; if she sleeps she has night¬ 
mare, and for about ten days she has had vertigo, 
especially when in bed. Constant tremor agitates 
her limbs to such an extent that she can hardly 
pour out a glass of water. This nervous condition 
has resisted all treatment: bromide, ether, and other 
antispasmodics. 

Mile. X-, who is very courageous, tries in 

vain to regain her self-control. 

After long hesitation, she comes to consult me 
on February 15, with the idea of trying hypnotic 
suggestion in spite of her scepticism. 

I hypnotize her easily; she goes into profound 
sleep; post-hypnotic hallucinations can be induced. 

I suggest the disappearance of all the morbid 
symptoms, and sleep at night. 

After two seances, on the 15th and 16th, she no 


—it 4— 



longer feels the slightest discointort; do more 
tremor; she sleeps until six o’clock in the morning 
without any disturbance, her appetite is better than 
ever, her melancholy has disappeared. The cure 
has continued up to the present day. 

G-, 49 years old, a laborer, was in a cafe on 

June 21, 1884, at six o’clock in the evening, when 
he suddenly felt that he could not lift his right 
hand. The fingers and the lower third of the fore¬ 
arm were anaesthetic and felt dull and heavy. 
Seven years ago he had articular rheumatism, local¬ 
ized in the upper limbs; the pain and swelling 
lasted four days, then disappeared; but the arms 

were paralyzed for six weeks. G-works in a damp 

atmosphere. Diagnosis: rheumatic paralysis. 

He came to the dispensary for four days, and 
electricity was used without result. 

He then went to consult my former chef de clin- 
ique, Dr. Elime Levy, who found complete paraly¬ 
sis with anaesthesia of the limb. The patient 
could not make the slightest movement. 

Dr. Levy hypnotized him (profound sleep). 
Upon waking, sensibility was restored, and the 
patient could again lift his hand. 

After the second seance, the movements were 
still more pronounced. 


Dr. Levy sent the patient to my clinic on June 
30. We find the right hand slightly swollen. The 
middle, fourth, and little fingers are bent into the 
palm of the hand at an angle of 120 degrees. The 
patient can grasp well with the hand. He straight¬ 
ens the wrist, but with some difficulty. No anaes¬ 
thesia. 

After two hypnotic seances, the patient opens his 
hand easily, and straightens his wrist perfectly. 
The cure is complete. 



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